Answer korean Leader Kim Jong Un Washington has ordered its military to expand its combat drills and strengthen war preparedness as it looks to escalate an already provocative run of weapons demonstrations amid deepening tensions with its neighbors and Washington.
Kim presided over a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission on Monday and encouraged the armed forces to “perpetuate victorious exploits” and display “incomparable military prowess” to open a new stage in development, the country’s official said. The Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday.
The meeting comes amid indications that North Korea is planning a military parade that could be an opportunity to show off the latest hardware from its growing nuclear weapons and missile program that is causing concern. United States of america and its allies in Asia.
Members of the commission, which represent Kim’s top military brass, discussed a series of actions aimed at prompting “great change” in the military, including “the steady expansion and intensification of operations and combat drills” and ” carrying out preparations for war more vigorously”. the agency said.
The commission also discussed unspecified organizational changes to “fundamentally reform and strengthen” military affairs, and state media photographs of the meeting showed a flag possibly representing the new department called the “Missile General Bureau”.
North Korea marked the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army on Wednesday and may celebrate with a parade in Pyongyang.
Lee Sung-joon, spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a briefing that the South Korean military detected a “significant increase in personnel and vehicles” in areas related to parade rehearsals, but did not share a specific assessment. Refused to say when the event would take place.
Lee said the South Korean military was closely monitoring developments related to North Korea’s possible creation of a new military bureau dealing with missiles, but did not provide further details. Some analysts say the new department could possibly handle the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic systems.
Kim’s comments from the military meeting are the latest warning from Pyongyang that it is preparing to ramp up its military showdown after a record-breaking year in missile tests. The warnings are in response to the United States’ expanded military drills with South Korea, which allies have said is aimed at countering the North’s growing threat.
Last week, North Korea threatened to counter US military moves with the “heaviest nuclear force” as it vowed to expand its joint exercises with South Korea and deploy more advanced military assets such as bombers and aircraft carriers in the region. Condemned the US plans.
North Korea has fired more than 70 ballistic missiles in 2022, including potentially nuclear-capable warheads designed to hit targets in South Korea or reach the US mainland. It also launched several of what it described as simulated nuclear strikes on South Korean and American targets in response to expanded US military exercises with South Korea, which were scaled down during the Trump administration.
During a major political conference in December, Kim called for an “exponential increase” of the country’s nuclear arsenal, the mass production of battlefield tactical nukes targeted at South Korea and the development of more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach the US homeland. .
Experts say Kim’s weapons tests and threats are aimed at forcing Washington to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power, which Pyongyang is using as a way to negotiate economic and political concessions from a position of strength. sees as
But there are also signs that Kim’s growing nuclear ambitions are coming at a cost. North Korean state media said on Monday that the ruling Workers’ Party has scheduled a plenary meeting of its powerful Central Committee for later this month to discuss the “urgent task” of improving agricultural output while deepening economic isolation.
Some experts have said the country’s food insecurity is likely to be its worst since the 1990s, when a devastating famine killed hundreds of thousands.
Diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang has stalled since 2019, with the two sides at odds over US-led economic sanctions against the North and the North’s nuclear program.