Seoul (dpa) – North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has called on the military and the arms industry to step up preparations in the event of a war on the Korean peninsula. At the year-end meeting of the central committee of the largely isolated country’s ruling Workers’ Party, he again accused the United States of working with allies toward a confrontation with North Korea.
The military situation has reached an extreme point, Kim was quoted as saying by state media. “He outlined the military tasks for the people’s army, the ammunition industry, the nuclear weapons and civil defense areas to accelerate preparations for war,” it said.
Reaction to military cooperation between South Korea and the USA
The multi-day party meeting in Pyongyang, which began on Tuesday, also discussed the self-proclaimed nuclear power’s security policy goals for the next year. Kim had already ordered at a meeting of the party’s central military commission in August that preparations for war must be pushed forward aggressively. The decisions at that time were also seen as a reaction to South Korea’s greater military cooperation with the USA. Both countries see North Korea, which is subject to international sanctions because of its nuclear weapons program, as their most important enemies.
Tensions have recently increased significantly again. After an unprecedented series of missile tests last year, North Korea has again tested nuclear-capable missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, several times this year. The USA and South Korea agreed in April to increase their military cooperation and, among other things, expand their joint military exercises.
2023-12-28 19:10:30
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