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At the Army’s 90th anniversary parade to showcase intercontinental ballistic missiles, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to speed up the development of nuclear weapons. Furthermore, he threatened to use them against any country that attempts a “confrontation”. His remarks suggest that he will continue the tests, as he tries to push for the United States and its allies to lift sanctions over its nuclear program, which are hitting Pyongyang’s economy hard.
North Korea renews its nuclear threats. Leader Kim Jong-un assured that he will expand his country’s nuclear capacity “at the highest speed” possible.
His words were produced during the military parade for the 90th anniversary of the country’s Army, which took place on Monday, April 25, although his statements and images were released this Tuesday by state news agencies.
“We will continue to take steps to further develop our state’s nuclear forces at the fastest possible speed,” he told troops and a crowd gathered in a square in Pyongyang, the capital.
Kim warned that his country could proactively use its nuclear weapons when threatened and that any foreign force seeking a military confrontation “will cease to exist.”
“If any force attempts to violate the fundamental interests of our state, our nuclear forces will have to decisively fulfill their unexpected second mission,” which would leave any invading force “perished,” he said.
Along the same lines, the leader asked that his nuclear forces be fully prepared to “get on the move at any time.”
The parade featured thousands of goose-stepping troops and several of the nation’s most powerful missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles. Some of them, Pyongyang assures, could reach the United States.
A variety of shorter-range solid-fuel missiles pose a growing threat to its neighbors South Korea and Japan.
The North Korean leader has described some of those missiles as “tactical” battlefield systems, which experts say suggests a threat to arm them with small nuclear devices and use them during an eventual war to defeat America’s strongest conventional forces. Asia and the West. Washington has about 80,000 troops deployed in South Korea and Japan.
Pyongyang would try to press for a withdrawal of sanctions
Kim Jong-un has recently intensified weapons tests and demonstrations of his nuclear power, at a time when denuclearization talks with the United States are stalled and a new conservative government takes power in South Korea.
Kim’s comments suggest he will continue the banned tests in a pressure campaign aimed at extracting concessions from Washington and its allies.
The economy of the impoverished country, with huge military spending, has been further hit by the difficulties related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequences of the financial punishments imposed by the West due to its nuclear program.
Pyongyang is prohibited by United Nations Security Council resolutions from developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, and as a result is under economic sanctions.
But US and South Korean officials point to signs of new construction at North Korea’s only known nuclear test site, which has been officially closed since 2018, suggesting Pyongyang may be preparing to resume such tests.
“Although he did not specify what the ‘second mission’ or ‘critical interests’ consisted of, he indicated more broadly that nuclear force could be used in a preventive manner, not only when they are under attack, but also in certain circumstances,” he said. Kim’s speech, Hong Min, senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.
For his part, Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korea Studies, stressed from Seoul that the North Korean leader’s statements could have been directed at the incoming government of South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who he has already warned of possible pre-emptive strikes if an assault from the north were imminent. Yoon will take office on May 10.
Seoul highlights that North Korea has openly called for peace and dialogue for the past five years, but its recent statements and military displays would show that Kim Jong-un has actually been focused on developing sufficient means to threaten not only the peninsula Korea but to Northeast Asia and other countries.
With Reuters, AP and EFE
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