SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un renewed his call for an “unlimited” expansion of his military nuclear program to counter U.S.-led threats in comments reported Monday that are first direct criticism of Washington. since Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections.

At a conference with military officials on Friday, Kim condemned the United States for updating its nuclear deterrent strategies with South Korea and consolidating three-way military cooperation involving Japan, which he portrayed as an “Asian NATO” that will ease tensions and instability escalated in the country. region.

Kim also criticized the United States for its support of Ukraine against a prolonged Russian invasion. He emphasized that Washington and its Western allies were using Ukraine as their “shock troops” to wage a war against Moscow and expand the reach of US military influence, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim has prioritized his country’s ties with Russia in recent months, embracing the idea of ​​a “new Cold War” and showing a united front in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s broader conflicts with the West.

He has used Russia’s war against Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate the development of his nuclear-armed military, which now has several nuclear-capable systems targeting South Korea and South Korea. intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the US mainland.

Kim has yet to directly acknowledge that he has supplied military equipment and troops to Russia in support of the war against Ukraine, and the KCNA report did not say whether Kim made any comments toward Trump, whose election victory has yet to be reported in the North’s state media.

Kim met Trump three times in 2018 and 2019 during Trump’s first presidency, but their diplomacy quickly collapsed over disagreements over the exchange of US-led sanctions and North Korean moves to phase out its nuclear and missile program. North Korea has since suspended all meaningful talks with Washington and Seoul as Kim has stepped up his testing activities military demonstrations in the face of what he described as “gangster American threats.” There are concerns in Seoul that in return for his military support to Russia, Kim would receive Russian technology in exchange for further development of his arsenal.

Trump’s election victory has fueled speculation about a resumption of summit-driven diplomacy with Kim, which critics described as a “bromance.” But some experts say a quick return to 2018 is highly unlikely because too much has changed in the regional security situation and broader geopolitics since then.

While the North Korean nuclear problem was relatively an isolated issue during Trump’s first term, it is now linked to broader challenges created by Russia’s war against Ukraine and further complicated by the weakened enforcement of sanctions against Pyongyang, said Hwang Ildo, a professor at South Korea’s National Diplomatic Academy. , wrote in a study last week.

North Korea’s nuclear and missile program is now much more advanced, which would increase Kim’s perception of his negotiating power. Kim’s efforts to strengthen North Korea’s presence in a united front against Washington could also gain momentum if Trump raises tariffs and revives a trade war with China, the North’s key ally and economic lifeline, Hwang said .

Amid the stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations with Washington, Kim has increased pressure on South Korea, abandoning his country’s long-standing goal of inter-Korean reconciliation and verbally threatening to attack the South with nuclear weapons when provoked.

Kim has also engaged in psychological and electronic warfare against South Korea, such as flying thousands of balloons to drop trash in the South and Interfere with GPS signals from border areas near the largest airport in the South.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea again flew waste-laden balloons to the South on Monday morning and issued a statement warning the North “not to further test the patience of our military.” The North has launched about 7,000 balloons towards the South since May, causing property damage but no injuries so far. On at least two occasions, debris carried by North Korean balloons fell on Seoul’s presidential grounds, raising concerns about the vulnerability of key sites.