Kim highlights ‘US nuclear threat’

The North Korean leader has said his country must continue bolstering its strategic deterrent

North Korea must continue to build up its strategic missile arsenal due to the threat posed by US nuclear weapons, the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has said.

Tensions between North and South Korea, which have technically been at war since 1953, have further escalated in recent months. Earlier in October, Pyongyang accused Seoul of deploying drones over its territory to drop propaganda leaflets. The South, which is one of the key US allies in the region, has repeatedly accused its northern neighbor of sending trash-filled hot air balloons across the border.

Earlier this year, Kim proposed abandoning his country’s longstanding commitment to reunification, labeling the South a “principal enemy.”

On Wednesday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim, along with several other senior officials, had inspected strategic missile bases. The DPRK leader examined launch facilities, describing the rockets as a cornerstone of Pyongyang’s deterrence. He also stressed the importance of keeping the systems up to date.

“The US strategic nuclear means pose an ever-increasing threat to the security environment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and… warrant the bolstering of [its] deterrent,” Kim stated, as quoted by the KCNA.

The North Korean leader insisted that Pyongyang’s missile forces should be able to “deal a strategic counterblow to the enemy at any time.”

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On Saturday, the KCNA reported that authorities had found fragments of what they described as a South Korean military drone on DPRK soil. The article warned that further violations of North Korean airspace would be “regarded as a grave military provocation… and a declaration of war and an immediate retaliatory attack will be launched.”

Earlier last week, the state-run media outlet confirmed that the DPRK military had blown up 60-meter stretches of road and rail lines connecting North Korea to the South. The article quoted a representative of the Defense Ministry in Pyongyang as saying that “further measures will be taken to turn the blocked southern border into an eternal fortress.”

Seoul has neither confirmed nor denied the alleged UAV flights. However, it has warned the neighboring state that it will see the “end of its regime” in case of an attack on the South.