North's Kim criticizes Lee administration, threatens retaliation on forces infringing on 'national sovereignty'
Published: 26 Feb. 2026, 09:02
Updated: 26 Feb. 2026, 10:07
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- LIM JEONG-WON
- [email protected]
![North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks at the Ninth Party Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang on Feb. 23 in this photo carried by the Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 24. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/02/26/4ebe6883-41a3-47c5-a8a8-212be83e0fca.jpg)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks at the Ninth Party Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang on Feb. 23 in this photo carried by the Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 24. [YONHAP]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned of "terrible retaliatory attacks" against any force that commits hostile military acts against his country while speaking at a parade marking a key party congress, state media reported Thursday.
Kim called the South "deceptive" during his remarks at the nighttime parade, which took place at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on Wednesday, as the high-profile ruling party gathering drew to a close that day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"Our armed forces are fully ready to cope with any circumstances," Kim said in a speech carried by the KCNA. "Our army will deliver terrible retaliatory attacks to any forces the moment they commit hostile military acts of infringing upon our national sovereignty and security interests."
"In this world of today, it is the topmost, overriding task of our state and the duty of our armed forces, which no one else could perform for them, to reliably defend the rights to existence and development of our state and people."
Kim repeatedly dismissed the possibility of dialogue with South Korea, calling the Lee Jae Myung administration's conciliatory stance "deceptive" and stating that he would "permanently exclude the South from the category of fellow countrymen."
The congress, the first since 2021, opened last Thursday and ran for a week to review policy results from the previous congress and set new goals for the next five years.
![Members of the North Korean Workers' Party are seen attending the Ninth Party Congress held in Pyongyang on Feb. 23, in this screengrab from the state-run Korean Central Television. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/02/26/d92d7a49-f952-4fc6-af21-5737dabdcd38.jpg)
Members of the North Korean Workers' Party are seen attending the Ninth Party Congress held in Pyongyang on Feb. 23, in this screengrab from the state-run Korean Central Television. [NEWS1]
Kim criticized the Lee administration, stating, "The current South Korean administration's outwardly conciliatory stance is clumsily deceptive and a poorly executed piece of work."
"I will reaffirm this stance through the ruling party's highest leadership body, the Party Congress, which determines the national course and policies," Kim said.
Kim ruled out any potential progress in inter-Korean relations.
"Unless the South can escape the geopolitical conditions at its border with us, the only way to live safely is to give up on everything with us and not provoke us."
He also escalated threats, demanding that Seoul cease "unnecessary actions that could disrupt the existing stability," and asserted that "the use of all physical force applicable to a hostile state, including a preemptive strike mission," is theoretically and technologically possible for Pyongyang.
"If South Korea's reckless actions at the doorstep of a nuclear power are recognized as damaging our security environment, we can initiate arbitrary actions," Kim claimed. "The possibility of South Korea's complete collapse as an extension of such actions cannot be ruled out."
BY LIM JEONG-WON, YONHAP [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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