North Korea calls for 'accelerated' war preparations
(Baonghean.vn) - According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared that the country must increase its war readiness in the context of "unprecedented" confrontational actions against Pyongyang initiated by Washington.
Speaking at the year-end meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea in the capital Pyongyang, leader Kim Jong-un called on various departments - including nuclear weapons, ammunition and civil defense - to "further accelerate war preparations".
KCNA said: “Leader Kim set military tasks for the Korean People's Army and the munitions industry, nuclear weapons and civil defense sectors to further accelerate preparations for war.”
Kim Jong-un also warned that the “military situation” on the Korean peninsula had become “extreme” due to “unprecedented” confrontational moves by the US and its allies in the region. To counter these threats, Kim Jong-un declared that Pyongyang would expand strategic cooperation with “independent anti-imperialist” countries.
At a meeting late last year, Mr. Kim stressed that Pyongyang must “exponentially increase the country's nuclear arsenal.”
Washington, along with Seoul and Tokyo, have stepped up military exercises in recent months following a series of weapons tests by Pyongyang this year. In early December, the US deployed a nuclear-powered submarine to the South Korean port city of Busan and conducted long-range bombing drills with allies Japan and South Korea. Pyongyang described such joint exercises as “a deliberate US nuclear war provocation”.
