Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described his nuclear arsenal as more “practical and vowed to increase through “aggressive” methods. Said Tuesday.
A meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party on Monday came amid tensions as the pace of both North Korea’s weapons display and joint US-South Korea military drills have accelerated in recent weeks. ,
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the members of the commission discussed unspecified issues related to strengthening defense capabilities and carrying out war preparations to counter the threat posed by the Allied exercises, which the North has identified as an invasion. Portrays as a rehearsal.
KCNA said Kim reviewed the country’s frontline attack plans and various war documents and stressed the need to strengthen its nuclear deterrent with “increasing pace in a more pragmatic and aggressive manner”.
The report did not specify the direction the North intended to take. KCNA published photos of Kim talking to officials, pointing to some locations on a blurred map that appear to be South Korea.
KCNA said that Kim and members of the military commission analyzed the security situation on the Korean Peninsula “in which the US imperialists and (South) Korean puppet traitors are becoming more explicit in their moves for aggressive war” and on the proposed troop preparations. Discuss actions that their enemy has no way to retaliate.
US and South Korean militaries last month held their largest field drill in years and held separate joint naval and air force drills involving a US aircraft carrier strike group and nuclear-capable US bombers. The KCNA claimed the exercise simulated an all-out war against North Korea and communicated threats to capture Pyongyang and eliminate its leadership.
The United States and South Korea have described their drills as defensive in nature and have said their expansion is necessary to deal with growing threats from the North. South Korea’s government did not immediately respond to Kim’s comments.
So far in 2023, North Korea has fired nearly 30 missiles in 11 separate launch events, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, demonstrating the potential to reach the US mainland and launch nuclear strikes on South Korean targets. There are several short-range weapons designed for.
The North was already coming off a record year in weapons testing, having launched some 70 missiles in 2022.
Experts say Kim’s provocation in the weapons display is aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiate economic concessions from a position of strength.
Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have been stalled since 2019 over disagreements over an exchange of US-led sanctions against the North and moves against the North to shut down its nuclear weapons program.
South Korean officials say North Korea may soon escalate by staging more provocative displays of its military power, including its first nuclear test explosion since 2017.
North Korea last month unveiled what appears to be a new nuclear warhead designed to fit on a variety of delivery systems as Kim asked his nuclear scientists to ramp up production of weapons-grade material to bomb an ever-increasing range of weapons. asked for.
North Korea has also issued an indirect threat to test an ICBM on a normal ballistic trajectory toward the Pacific, which would be seen as a major provocation as its past long-range tests avoid neighbors’ territories. were done at high angles.
The North has also previously said it aims to complete preparations for launching a military spy satellite into space by April, an event that rivals will almost certainly see as a test of ICBM technology banned by international sanctions.