N. Korea leader’s sister blasts US‑led drills, threatens ‘more offensive’ nuclear‑deterrence steps

South Korean tanks are seen near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) dividing South Korea and North Korea, in Paju September 12, 2026. — AFP pic

First Published: Friday, 18 Sep 2026 9:58 AM MYT

SEOUL, Sept 18 — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister accused the United States of escalating regional tensions through frequent military drills and warned of a “more offensive” response from Pyongyang, according to a statement published by state media today.

The comments came amid an escalation in rhetoric from Pyongyang, even as US President Donald Trump has sought to revive diplomacy and improve ties with North Korea but received little response to his overtures.

“The present situation, in which new records are set in terms of practical action hostile toward the DPRK, stresses the need to break records in our responsive action, proportional or more offensive in its nature,” Kim Yo Jong said, using North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, according to her statement carried by KCNA news agency.

Describing joint military drills held in recent months by US forces and allies in the Asia-Pacific region as a “US-led war rehearsal,” Kim vowed that “our will to defend our sovereignty will be expressed in clearer action and there will be never ever change in the course of intensifying the nuclear war deterrence.”

“I remind the enemy once again that if it is judged that the supreme interests of our nation and its military sovereignty and security environment in the region have been seriously violated by their military manoeuvres,” Kim went on, North Korea’s military will “mobilise all means available to cope with it.”

In a sharply-worded statement a day earlier, Kim mocked those who wish to see North Korea abandon its nuclear programme.

“The DPRK’s position as a nuclear weapons state is absolute which can not reverse with anything,” she said.

The statement came during a general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, with Kim dismissing “familiar silly talk” of efforts to denuclearise the North.

“If they believe that it is really possible, they will only hear the word of idiots,” she said.

North Korea has legally enshrined its status as a nuclear weapons state, with its leadership declaring the country’s nuclear arsenal permanent and irreversible.

Trump recently said Pyongyang possesses 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons, with Seoul putting the figure at between 80 and 120.

The North’s nuclear arsenal has expanded since a second summit between Kim and Trump collapsed in 2019 over what Pyongyang would receive in return for taking steps towards denuclearisation. — AFP