North Korea vows to expand nuclear force and spy agency

North Korea will strengthen its nuclear force “both in quality and quantity” and expand the role of its military intelligence agency focused on South Korea, state media said Friday.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said the issues were discussed Thursday at an enlarged meeting of the ruling party’s central military commission.

KCNA said the meeting decided on measures to bolster the nuclear force and called for a broad expansion of the functions and missions of the General Reconnaissance and Intelligence Bureau, the military intelligence agency tasked with operations involving South Korea.

The agency “plays a pivotal role in controlling the potential enemies’ threats and gathering key information,” KCNA said. It added that the meeting discussed ways to improve the unit’s military reconnaissance and intelligence capabilities.

Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said the move reflected Pyongyang’s shift toward treating the two Koreas as “two hostile states.” He said military reconnaissance has different implications under a state-to-state approach because intelligence activity targeting another sovereign state can carry diplomatic consequences.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it was closely monitoring any developments related to the reported expansion.

North Korea is under widespread sanctions over its nuclear programme. The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

The announcement follows repeated North Korean rejection of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s overtures. Pyongyang has labelled Seoul its “most hostile” enemy and declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state.