North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has directed his country to accelerate its nuclear weapons build-up with an explicit goal of ‘overtaking the world,’ according to state media reports published on Tuesday, 23 June. The directive emerged from a high-level ruling party session in Pyongyang, signalling a sharper edge to the regime’s already maximalist nuclear posture.

What the Party Session Decided

The Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) convened the second plenary meeting of its ninth central committee over three days from Saturday, presided over by Kim. The session reviewed the country’s policy performance in the first half of the year and revisited the agenda set at a major party congress in February 2025.

The meeting unanimously reaffirmed that expanding nuclear forces — described as ‘the core of the military sovereignty’ of the nation and ‘the pivot of implementing the strategy for deterring or fighting a war’ — was the regime’s overriding strategic priority. The session declared that ‘thoroughly exercising the position of a nuclear weapons state is the most correct and unique way to actively and confidently cope with the unpredictable international military and political situation getting complicated in multiple ways,’ according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim reportedly set forth tasks to ‘dynamically carry out the work to increase powerful defense assets without pause in our own way and with a goal of overtaking the world,’ with the state media report adding that ‘more extensive, innovative and encouraging plans would be carried out with increasing speed’ using nuclear technology as a foundation.

Military Build-Up: Ships, Bases and Border Fortifications

Beyond the nuclear directive, the plenary session pledged to accelerate construction of a 10,000-tonne-class strategic guided missile cruiser, a programme first authorised by the party in April. Kim also stressed the need to build new naval bases and additional military infrastructure to reinforce the country’s defence posture.

Notably, the session underscored the need to fortify ‘the southern border’ — a theme Kim has returned to repeatedly in recent months. Last month, he convened a separate meeting with senior military commanders, calling for reinforcement of front-line units. That followed an earlier order to deploy a new self-propelled howitzer along the border by year’s end.

Sharp Criticism of Seoul-Washington Alliance

Pyongyang reiterated its designation of South Korea as its most hostile nation and sharply criticised the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. The plenary session singled out the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) — a key nuclear deterrence forum that met earlier this month — denouncing it as ‘a nuclear war body whose purpose is to attack’ North Korea and claiming it ‘drew detailed nuclear war scenarios, including war mode, sequence of missions, drills and operation element.’

This comes amid an already tense peninsula, where cross-border tensions have been elevated since Pyongyang formally codified its nuclear status in law in 2022 and subsequently declared South Korea its principal adversary.

Leadership Reshuffle at the Top

The session also produced a significant party leadership change. Jo Yong-won was elected secretary of the party’s central committee, effectively restoring him to one of the most powerful positions in the country. Jo previously served as chairman of the standing committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the country’s parliament.

Simultaneously, Kim Jae-ryong was removed from the presidium of the party politburo as well as his posts as party secretary and department director. The reason for the removal was not immediately clear, though it may be linked to corruption allegations against Park Hee-chol, deputy director of the Korean People’s Army’s general political bureau, who was reportedly referred to authorities.

Coal Sector Named a Strategic Economic Pillar

On the economic front, the meeting spotlighted coal as a strategic pillar of national development, calling for a nationwide overhaul of the sector and its mining communities. Kim described eliminating the ‘centuries-old backwardness’ of the coal industry as ‘a strategic issue of weighty significance’ for both the current five-year plan and the country’s longer-term economic trajectory.

The session declared that modernising the coal sector would be ‘of weighty historic significance in rapidly boosting the overall economy,’ according to reports citing Yonhap news agency. The February congress — the country’s most important political gathering and the first since 2021, held from 19–25 February — had already set a five-year course covering the economy, defence, and diplomacy.

With the latest directives in place, Pyongyang appears set to press ahead on all fronts simultaneously — nuclear expansion, conventional military build-up, border hardening, and economic restructuring — raising the stakes for regional diplomacy in the months ahead.