Global Courant 2023-04-11 07:07:00
Seoul, South Korea –
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to expand its nuclear arsenal in more “practical and offensive” ways during a meeting with senior military officials to discuss the country’s war preparations in light of the “frantic” military exercises of the North. its rivals, state media said on Tuesday. .
Monday’s Central Military Commission meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party came amid heightened tensions as the pace of both North Korea’s arms demonstrations and joint US-South Korea military exercises have intensified in recent weeks in a tit-for-tat cycle.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said committee members discussed unspecified issues related to strengthening defense capabilities and perfecting war preparations to counter the threat of allied exercises, which the north portrays as invasion rehearsals.
Reviewing the country’s front-line strike plans and various combat documents, Kim stressed the need to bolster its nuclear deterrent with “increasing speed in a more hands-on and offensive manner,” according to KCNA.
The report did not specify the directions the North planned to take. KCNA also published photos of Kim talking to officials as she points to certain spots on a fuzzy map that appears to be of South Korea.
KCNA said Kim and members of the military commission were analyzing the security situation on the Korean peninsula “in which the US imperialists and the (South) Korean puppet traitors are becoming increasingly undisguised in their actions for a war of aggression” and discussed preparations for proposed military operations . actions that their enemy cannot counter.
The U.S. and South Korean militaries conducted their largest field exercises in years last month, holding separate joint naval and air force exercises involving a U.S. carrier strike group and U.S. nuclear-armed bombers. KCNA claimed the exercises simulated all-out war against North Korea and made threats to occupy Pyongyang and behead its leadership.
The United States and South Korea have described their exercises as defensive in nature and said the expansion of those exercises is necessary to meet the North’s evolving threats. The South Korean government did not immediately respond to Kim’s comments.
Tensions are likely to continue as allies continue their exercises and North Korea uses them as a pretext to advance weapons development and intensify military training with its nuclear-capable missiles.
The North Korean report came as South Korean officials said the North failed to respond to South Korean calls through inter-Korean liaison and military hotlines for a fifth consecutive day. South Korean officials say North Korea cut off communications after the South last week urged the North to stop unauthorized use of South Korean assets left behind in a now-closed factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong.
The paused military hotlines are especially concerning at a time of heightened tensions, as they are designed to prevent accidental clashes along the rivals’ maritime borders.
South Korea’s Unification Minister Kwon Youngse, Seoul’s point man in the north, expressed “strong regret” at a press conference on North Korea’s “unilateral and irresponsible attitude” across the lines of communication and also warned of unspecified legal action. steps on the use of the Kaesong assets.
When asked about Kim’s comments at the military meeting, Kwon said it is likely that North Korea is currently viewing rising tensions as beneficial to its interests and that Seoul is carefully analyzing the North’s intentions.
South Korea withdrew its companies from Kaesong in 2016 following a North Korean nuclear test, removing the last remaining significant symbol of cooperation between the rivals. North Korean state media recently showed what appeared to be South Korean commuter buses cruising the streets of Kaesong and Pyongyang.
North Korea has fired about 30 missiles in 11 different launch events so far in 2023, including intercontinental ballistic missiles that showed potential range to reach the US mainland and several shorter-range weapons designed to launch nuclear strikes on South Korean targets.
The north has already experienced a record year in weapons testing, having launched nearly 70 missiles in 2022.
Experts say Kim’s provocative weapons displays are aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and to negotiate economic concessions from a position of strength.
Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since 2019 over disagreements over the exchange of crippling US-led sanctions against the North and the North’s moves to wind down its nuclear weapons program.
South Korean officials say North Korea could soon raise the bar by staging more provocative displays of its military might, including the first nuclear test detonation since 2017.
North Korea last month unveiled what appeared to be a new nuclear warhead designed to fit a variety of delivery systems, when Kim called on its nuclear scientists to increase production of weapons-grade material to make bombs for its growing array of weapons.
North Korea has also made veiled threats to test an ICBM on a normal ballistic trajectory towards the Pacific Ocean, which would be seen as a major provocation as the previous long-range tests were conducted at high angles to avoid neighbors’ territories .
The North also previously said it wants to finalize preparations to launch a military spy satellite into space by April, an event its rivals would almost certainly see as a test of ICBM technology banned by international sanctions.
