North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, ordered that his party “accelerate” war preparations, including the country’s nuclear programme, official media said on Thursday.
Kim had warned Pyongyang just one week before that it would not hesitate to launch a nuclear strike if it were “provoked” to do so.
Kim made these remarks at the North’s continuing year-end gala, during which he is expected to make significant announcements about policies for 2024.
Kim demanded that the party “further accelerate the war preparations” in a number of areas, including nuclear weapons and civil defence, according to Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency.
He also emphasised that “unprecedented” anti-North conflicts with Washington were to blame for the “extreme” state of the “military situation” on the Korean peninsula.
In response to Pyongyang’s record-breaking spate of weapons tests this year, Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington have increased defence cooperation and just launched a system to communicate real-time data on North Korean missile launches.
A US nuclear-powered submarine landed in the South Korean port city of Busan earlier this month, and Washington flew long-range bombers in joint exercises with Seoul and Tokyo.
The North has previously portrayed US strategic weapons, like B-52 bombers, participating in joint drills on the Korean peninsula as “intentional nuclear war provocative moves by the US.”
Pyongyang successfully launched a spy satellite this year, inscribed its nuclear status in its constitution, and tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The United Nations Atomic Energy Agency stated last week that a second reactor at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear site seemed to be functioning, which it described as “deeply regrettable.”
According to Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who leads the World Institute for North Korea Studies, North Korea is expected to “deploy tactical nuclear weapons in areas near the inter-Korean border” and progress its nuclear programme in the new year.
Pyongyang will take such steps to put “great pressure” on South Korea and the US while retaining tight ties with old allies Russia and China, he said.
Kim called for an “exponential increase in the country’s nuclear arsenal” at last year’s year-end party conference.
The US and South Korea convened the second meeting of their Nuclear Consultative Group earlier this month in Washington, where they reviewed nuclear deterrent options in the event of confrontation with the North.
They warned that any nuclear assault by Pyongyang on the United States or South Korea would bring the Kim dictatorship to an end. North Korea’s defence ministry then lambasted the partners’ plans to extend annual joint military exercises to include a nuclear operation rehearsal next year, calling it “an open declaration on nuclear confrontation.” Pyongyang proclaimed itself an “irreversible” nuclear power last year and has frequently stated that North Korea would never abandon its nuclear programme, which it regards as critical to its existence.
Since North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006, the United Nations Security Council has passed many resolutions urging it to cease its nuclear and ballistic missiles.
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