North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the military, including its nuclear programme, to “accelerate” war preparations to counter what he called unprecedented confrontational moves by the United States.
Speaking at an ongoing meeting of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party, Kim “set forth the militant tasks for the People’s Army and the munitions industry, nuclear weapons and civil defence sectors to further accelerate war preparations”, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday.
Kim also stressed that the “military situation” on the Korean peninsula had become “extreme” due to “unprecedented” anti-North confrontations with the US, KCNA said.
The state news agency did not go into detail on the preparations.
South Korea, Japan and the US have deepened political and defence cooperation this year in the face of a record-breaking series of weapons tests by Pyongyang and recently activated a system to share real-time data on North Korean missile launches.
Earlier this month, a US nuclear-powered submarine arrived in the South Korean port city of Busan, and Washington has deployed its long-range bombers in drills with Seoul and Tokyo.
Pyongyang, meanwhile, successfully launched its first military spy satellite on the third attempt, tested the solid-fuelled Hwasong-18, its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and enshrined nuclear power status in the country’s constitution.
Kim earlier this week defined 2023 as a “year of great turn and great change” in which Pyongyang saw “eye-opening victories”.
