08 May 2016•Update: 11 May 2016
By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has used the occasion of Pyongyang's ongoing 7th Workers' Party Congress to portray his country as a "responsible" member of the global nuclear-armed community, according to comments released by the North's state-run KCNA news agency Sunday.
Ignoring United Nations resolutions aimed at curbing Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, Kim offered instead to "normalize" ties with nations that end their hostile attitude towards North Korea, while promising to "strive for global denuclearization".
The UN's latest punitive measures were imposed following the North's fourth nuclear test in January and subsequent rocket launch.
"As a responsible nuclear weapons state, our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes," Kim announced at Pyongyang's first party congress in nearly 40 years.
This year North Korea has intensified its aggressive rhetoric aimed at the United States and South Korea, particularly when the allies were carrying out their largest ever spring military drills.
Washington and Seoul are unlikely to be swayed by Kim's offer of improved relations given their consistent demand that Pyongyang first commit to denuclearization.
"While [he] calls his country a responsible nuclear-armed state, [he] mentioned the denuclearization of the world. That means that [the North] would not seek denuclearization," a senior South Korean government official told local news agency Yonhap Sunday on the condition of anonymity.
Seoul's defense ministry had been anticipating a fifth North Korean nuclear test in line with the congress, but so far Pyongyang has kept onlookers guessing regarding any imminent provocation.
Official reports suggest that Kim is shifting to a dual policy direction reminiscent of his grandfather, the North's late leader Kim Il-sung -- as evidenced by the congress' focus on the economy as well as nuclear development.
