NORTH KOREAN leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to irreversibly cement his country’s status as a nuclear power while maintaining a hard-line stance towards South Korea, which he called the “most hostile” state, local media reported today.

In a speech to Pyongyang’s parliament the day before, Mr Kim accused the United States of global “state terrorism and aggression,” in an apparent reference to the war in the Middle East, and vowed that the North would play a more forceful role in a united front against Washington. 

He said that whether his adversaries “choose confrontation or peaceful co-existence is up to them, and we are prepared to respond to any choice.”

Local media reports said the Supreme People’s Assembly, which concluded a two-day session on Monday, had passed a revised constitution but did not specify the changes. 

There has been little known meaningful dialogue between Pyongyang and either Washington or Seoul since the collapse of Mr Kim’s second summit with US President Donald Trump in 2019 over US-led sanctions on the North.

However, North Korea enjoys closer relations with Russia and China.

Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops and large amounts of military equipment to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine. 

Earlier this month, regular high-speed passenger services between North Korea and China began running again after a six-year suspension that began during the Covid-19 pandemic.

China Railway described the resumption as “a moving link that strengthens the friendship between China and North Korea.”

Trade between North Korea and China has soared in the first two months of 2026, according to customs data published last week.

Relations have warmed between the two nations, culminating in a summit last September between Mr Kim and China’s President Xi Jinping, their first for six years.

Some experts say the illegal and unprovoked US-Israel attack on Iran and the killing of Tehran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may have raised Mr Kim’s bar for reviving dialogue with Washington.