This content was published on January 2, 2023 – 10:11 am
(AFP)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for an “exponential increase” in the country’s nuclear arsenal, including the development of powerful anti-fire missiles, state media reported on Sunday.
In a report following a key party meeting, Kim called for “an exponential increase in the country’s nuclear arsenal,” the official KCNA news agency said.
Citing “hostility” from the United States and South Korea, the report said the North needs to “mass-produce tactical nuclear weapons” and “develop another ICBM system whose primary mission is a rapid nuclear counterstrike.”
These goals are part of the “main thrust” of the 2023 nuclear and defense strategy, the report said.
Military tension has intensified in the past year on the Korean peninsula, due to the record series of weapons tests carried out by the North and the strengthening of joint exercises between the South Korean and US militaries.
Pyongyang’s barrage of fire ended with three short-range missiles on Saturday and then an unusual morning firing at 02:50 (17:50 GMT on Saturday) on Sunday, the South Korean military said.
The KCNA agency indicated that these were “test shots of large multiple rocket launchers”.
Kim said the weapons are capable of “loading tactical nuclear warheads” and putting South Korea “entirely within range” of impact.
North Korea is emphasizing this “to warn of the possibility of real action,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at North Korean University in Seoul.
“North Korea signals a tactical breakthrough by indirectly pressuring the United States by pressuring South Korea,” he added.
Earlier in the week, five North Korean drones entered South Korean airspace, prompting Seoul to deploy fighter jets.
– ‘Arms Race’ –
For Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, Kim’s latest announcement indicates that “they are preparing for the possibility of a real war”.
He also warned that if the United States and South Korea respond, as is likely, by stepping up military exercises, inter-Korean tensions will reach “an unprecedented level” in 2023.
Months ago, Kim said he wanted to make North Korea the world’s largest nuclear power and changed the country’s law to declare that status “irreversible”.
The communist country had already talked about mass nuclear weapons, said Go Myong-hyun, a policy studies researcher at the Asan Institute.
“The intention is that if North Korea massively produces nuclear weapons, even without aggressive provocation, the United States will have no choice but to one day recognize North Korea as a nuclear state,” he told AFP.
The report comes on the heels of an important meeting of Kim’s party, where the leader and other top officials set goals for 2023 in areas including diplomacy, security and the economy.
North Korean leaders also plan to launch their first military satellite “as soon as possible,” the KCNA news agency said.
South Korea is also pursuing the same goal and launched a solid fuel space rocket on Friday.
For Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University, Seoul is likely to strengthen its defensive capabilities and readiness to act if its northern neighbor goes ahead with its plan to mass produce nuclear weapons.
“If China doesn’t want the regional instability of an inter-Korean arms race on its doorstep, it will need to do more to contain Pyongyang in 2023,” he said.
