SEOUL, South Korea
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un
has ordered his country’s military, munitions industry and nuclear weapons
sector to accelerate war preparations to counter what he called unprecedented
confrontational moves by the US, state media said on Thursday.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the December 2023 plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, in Pyongyang, North Korea
Speaking on the policy
directions for the new year at a key meeting of the country’s ruling party on
Wednesday, Kim also said Pyongyang would expand strategic cooperation with
“anti-imperialist independent” countries, news agency KCNA reported.
North Korea has been expanding
ties with Russia, among others, as Washington accuses Pyongyang of supplying
military equipment to Moscow for use in its war with Ukraine, while Russia
provides technical support to help the North advance its military capabilities.
“He (Kim) set forth the
militant tasks for the People’s Army and the munitions industry, nuclear
weapons and civil defense sectors to further accelerate the war preparations,”
KCNA said.
On Thursday, South Korean
President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a frontline military unit in the eastern county
of Yeoncheon to inspect its defense posture and called for an immediate
retaliation if there was any provocation from North Korea.
“I urge you to immediately and
firmly crush the enemy’s will for a provocation on the spot,” Yoon told troops.
During the party plenum, North
Korea’s Kim also laid out economic goals for the new year, calling it a
“decisive year” to accomplish the country’s five-year development plan, KCNA
said.
“He ... clarified the
important tasks for the new year to be dynamically pushed forward in the key
industrial sectors,” and called for “stabilising the agricultural production on
a high level.”
The North has suffered serious
food shortages in recent decades, including famine in the 1990s, often as a
result of natural disasters. International experts have warned that border
closures during the COVID-19 pandemic worsened food security.
North Korea’s crop output was
estimated to have increased year-on-year in 2023 due to favorable weather
conditions. But a Seoul official has said the amount was still far below what
is needed to address the country’s chronic food shortages.
The 9th plenary meeting of the
8th central committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea kicked off on Tuesday to
wrap up a year during which the isolated North enshrined nuclear policy in its
constitution, launched a spy satellite and fired a new intercontinental
ballistic missile.
The days-long assembly of the
party and government officials has been used in recent years to make key policy
announcements. Previously, state media released Kim’s speech on New Year’s Day.
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