Nuclear-armed North Korea intends to have “the most powerful strategic force in the world,” its leader Kim Jong Un said at a ceremony celebrating the launch of a new intercontinental missile, during which his young daughter appeared in public for the second time.
Kim Jong Un has awarded a massive series of promotions to the military and scientists involved in the development of the new Hwasong-17, dubbed by military analysts the “monstrous missile”, capable of reaching the continental United States. This intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was tested on Nov. 18, falling into waters off Japan.
“Build the strongest army in the world”
The Hwasong-17 is “the strongest strategic weapon in the world” and constitutes “a magnificent leap forward in the development of technology to mount nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles”, the leader enthused, quoted by the official North Korean news agency on Sunday KCN extension. The scientists, soldiers and leaders of this program contributed to the “goal of building the strongest military in the world,” he reiterated.
The leader emphasized in his order of awarding the participants in the armament program that the purpose of developing a nuclear force was “to reliably protect the dignity and sovereignty of the state and the people.” It is “the greatest and most important revolutionary cause, and its ultimate goal is to possess the most powerful strategic force in the world, the sheer force unprecedented in the century,” he proclaimed.
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Hong Min of the Korean National Unification Institute said Pyongyang’s promotion of the test firing of Hwasong-17 was aimed at boosting its status as a nuclear power. “While the (launch of) Hwasong-15 in 2017 was intended to become a nation capable of threatening US territory with atomic weapons, the latest missile focuses on becoming the most powerful state with the ICBM “, he claimed.
“Protector of the Future Generation”
The official Rodong Simun newspaper also published more than a dozen photos on Sunday showing Kim Jong Un posing in the company of hundreds of civilians and soldiers during the ceremony, accompanied by “his beloved daughter”. The latter’s existence was first revealed last week, when North Korean media published photos of her watching the Hwasong-17 launch hand in hand with her father.
Photos on Sunday show the teenager, believed to be Kim Jong Un’s second daughter and named Ju Ae, dressed in a black coat, arm in arm with her father. Some of the images show a father and daughter posing together in front of the missile in the company of uniformed soldiers.
For Yang Moo-jin, a professor at North Korean University in Seoul, the presence of Kim Jong Un’s daughter was meant to portray Hwasong-17 as “the protector of the next generation.” “It appears that she will continue to parade her daughter on various occasions and use her as a propaganda tool,” she added.
In addition to promotions for participants in the weapons program, the regime bestowed the title of “Hero of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” (DPRK, the official name of North Korea) on the vehicle that fired the missile on November 18, added KCNA in another dispatch. The launch “clearly demonstrated to the world that North Korea is a fully-fledged nuclear power,” the official agency said.
