North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un called for the rapid buildup of his nation’s nuclear arsenal on Tuesday, reacting to joint military operations by the U.S. and South Korea.

Kim called the military exercises an “obvious expression of their will to provoke war,” according to North Korean state media. The U.S. and South Korea began their annual military drills, dubbed Ulchi Freedom Shield, this week and operations will continue sporadically through September.

The North Korean leader argued the drills show the intent by the U.S. and South Korea to “remain most hostile and confrontational,” and that North Korea must therefore “rapidly expand” its nuclear arsenal.

“Through this move, North Korea is demonstrating its refusal to accept denuclearization and the will to irreversibly upgrade nuclear weapons,” Hong Min, a North Korea analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told Reuters. 

South Korea also dismantled its speakers along the border that had broadcast anti-North Korea messaging for years, a move Pyongyang reciprocated.

Col. Lee Sung-jun, left, public affairs director of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Col. Ryan Donald, public affairs director of the United Nations Command, attend the press briefing for the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise at the Defense Ministry on Aug. 7, 2025, in Seoul, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Lee said his government would continue to make “gradual steps to restore the September 19 Military Agreement.”

“I hope that North Korea will reciprocate our efforts to restore trust and revive dialogue,” he added.

Reuters contributed to this report.