North Korean Leader: We Will Use Nuclear Bomb Only If Threatened

Kim Jong-un stated at the Congress of the ruling party in North Korea that nuclear weapons will only be used if the country's "territorial integrity" is threatened. He also promised that Pyongyang would not ignore disarmament policies on the peninsula. He expressed a desire to improve relations with countries that were previously "hostile". Kim Jong-un opened the latest Workers' Party Congress on May 6. His recent remarks were made on the second day of the Congress on May 7. On Friday, the North Korean leader praised the "huge" hydrogen bomb test conducted last January, claiming it was "successful". On January 5, hours after an earthquake was recorded near a North Korean nuclear facility, Pyongyang announced that it had "successfully" tested a hydrogen bomb. On the same day, the White House stated that initial assessments conducted by the government did not align with North Korea's claim of a successful test. According to North Korean state media, during the second day of the Workers' Party meeting, the leader stated, "As a responsible country, our republic will only use nuclear bombs if its territorial integrity is threatened by hostile nuclear forces." At the end of the last solar year, during large-scale military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea, he described these exercises as "nuclear war provocations" and warned that Pyongyang would respond with "full-scale aggression". On Saturday, Kim also mentioned that the Workers' Party and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) would improve relations with those countries that respect Korea's territorial integrity and have a friendly approach, even if they have been hostile in the past. The Workers' Party gathering is the first of its kind since October 1980, and it is the first Congress held under Kim Jong-un's leadership. The young member of the Kim family took power in 2011 following the announcement of his father's death. Before the party Congress was held again, estimates and analyses indicated the possibility of some nuclear or military tests or attempts to return to the negotiating table with the United States.