SEOUL, June 22 (BNA) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet with his top military officials to discuss national defense policies and continue strengthening his weapons after a highly provocative round of ballistic missile testing this year that revived tensions with Washington and Seoul.
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that Kim chaired a meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party that began Tuesday to review defense work during the first half of 2022 and stress “critical and urgent tasks” to expand and implement military capabilities. Key Defense Policies, Reuters reports.
The report did not specify any plans or make any critical remarks towards the United States or its rival South Korea. US and South Korean officials have said in recent months that North Korea may prepare for its first nuclear test since 2017, as Kim ramps up a brinkmanship aimed at establishing North Korea as a nuclear power and negotiating economic and security concessions from a position of strength. .
The agency said that the members of the committee began discussing the agenda that was presented, noting that the meeting may last for days.
Members can discuss progress in weapons development and plans to deploy some of the systems tested in recent months, including an alleged hypersonic missile, a long-range cruise missile, and the North’s newest ICBM, Cheong Seongchang said. Senior Analyst at Sejong Institute of South Korea.
North Korea’s enhanced test activity came as part of a five-year weapons development plan Kim announced in early 2021, when he unveiled an extensive wish-list of advanced military assets, including tactical nuclear weapons, nuclear-powered submarines, multiple warhead missiles, and solid-state missiles. Long-range fuel and weapons.
The meeting follows another major political conference earlier this month where Kim doubled down on his weapons buildup in the face of what he described as the worsening security environment and outlined more “combat missions” for the armed forces and military scientists to pursue.
North Korea already set an annual record for ballistic launches during the first half of 2022, firing 31 missiles in more than 18 different launch events, including its first ICBM demonstrations in nearly five years. The South Korean military also detected North Korea firing artillery shells into the sea last week.
Kim may soon up his ante as US and South Korean officials say North Korea has nearly finished preparations to detonate a nuclear device at its test site in the northeastern town of Punggye-ri. The site has been inactive since North Korea hosted its sixth nuclear test in September 2017, when it said it detonated a thermonuclear bomb designed for its ICBMs.
Experts stress that North Korea’s unusually fast pace of testing activity underscores Kim’s dual intent to bolster his arsenal and pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled nuclear diplomacy.
While the United States has said it will push for additional sanctions if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, divisions among the permanent members of the UN Security Council make the prospects for meaningful punitive measures unclear.
Russia and China this year vetoed US-sponsored resolutions that would have increased sanctions, insisting that Washington should focus on reviving dialogue.