North Korea’s Central Military Commission, chaired by leader Kim Jong Un, adopted a decision on 10 July to expand and modernise the country’s nuclear forces “both in quality and quantity,” according to a report by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The enlarged meeting also approved plans to upgrade the technical infrastructure of combat systems and to push forward with the standardisation, specialisation, and modernisation of military bases. The directives mark a formal step in a long-signalled reinforcement of the nuclear deterrent.

Addressing the commission, Kim stated that the nation’s peace and security could only be guaranteed by a “strong army” capable of containing all threats, KCNA reported. Beyond the nuclear domain, the meeting set out measures to accelerate the construction of modern naval bases and to expand shipyard capacity, reflecting what the agency described as a major shift in the navy’s status and role. The session also discussed enlarging the mandate of the General Reconnaissance Department to enhance intelligence-gathering capabilities. The decisions follow Kim’s recent oversight of weapons tests aboard the 5,000-tonne destroyer Kang Kon, a vessel that capsized during its launch ceremony last year but was subsequently repaired.

Viewed from Western diplomatic circles, the commission’s outcome consolidates Pyongyang’s declared position as an “irreversible” nuclear-weapons state — a stance that, according to Western officials, led to the collapse of the 2019 Hanoi summit between Kim and then-US President Donald Trump over the scope of denuclearisation and sanctions relief. International research centres, cited by Russian state media, estimate that North Korea possesses between 50 and 90 nuclear warheads, with sufficient fissile material to expand the arsenal rapidly. Its delivery systems include intercontinental ballistic missiles such as the Hwasong-17 and solid-fuel Hwasong-18, which are assessed to be capable of reaching the continental United States, as well as shorter-range missiles designed to target US bases in the Pacific, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and low-altitude manoeuvring cruise missiles.

North Korea remains subject to multiple United Nations sanctions regimes over its nuclear and ballistic-missile programmes. The Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically in a state of conflict. The commission’s directives contain no reference to a resumption of dialogue with Washington or Seoul, and the emphasis on qualitative and quantitative growth of the nuclear force points to continued weapons testing and infrastructure development in the coming months.