The North Korean leader pledged to upgrade its nuclear arsenal while meeting with senior military officials to discuss war preparations in light of South Korean and US military exercises, the state news agency reported Tuesday.
Kim Jong-un reviewed the country’s front-line strike plans and various combat documents and stressed the need to strengthen nuclear deterrence “faster, more practical and more offensive,” KCNA reported.
Monday’s meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission came at a time of rising tensions, which translated into North Korean arms demonstrations and joint US and South Korean military exercises.
The news agency emphasized that Kim and members of the military commission analyzed the security situation on the Korean peninsula, “in which the US imperialists and the Korean puppet traitors [do Sul] are becoming more and more transparent in initiatives for a war of aggression”.
The United States and South Korea have described the exercises as defensive in nature and have said that expansion of these exercises is necessary to counter North Korea’s evolving threats.
Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since 2019 over disagreements over exchanging economic sanctions for reducing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Source: DN
