North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his army to “thoroughly annihilate” the United States and South Korea if provoked, state media reported Monday, after he pledged to beef up national defences to deal with what he called an unprecedented US-led confrontation.
Experts believe Kim will step up weapons testing in 2024 ahead of the US presidential election in November. It is also believed that expanding his nuclear arsenal will allow him to extort concessions from the US if former President Donald Trump is re-elected.
Kim met Trump in 2018-19 for three rounds of talks on expanding North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. However, diplomacy failed after the US rejected Kim’s limited offer to dismantle its main nuclear complex in exchange for a significant reduction in US-led sanctions.
During a five-day ruling party meeting last week, Kim said he would launch three more military spy satellites, produce more nuclear materials and develop attack drones this year, in what observers say is an attempt to increase his influence in future diplomatic relations with the US.
At a meeting on Sunday with army commanders, Kim said it was urgent to sharpen the “cherished sword” to ensure national security, an apparent reference to his country’s nuclear weapons programme. According to the official Korean Central News Agency, he cited “military confrontational moves by the US and other hostile forces”.
The North Korean leader said that “our army must strike a deadly blow to finally destroy them by mobilising all the toughest means and capabilities without hesitation” if they dare to engage in military confrontation and provocations against North Korea, KCNA reported.
On Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged to accelerate work to complete a missile defence system and a system using US extended deterrence to “fundamentally deter any North Korean nuclear and missile threat.”
Extended deterrence refers to the strategy of using US military assets including nuclear weapons to deter and, in the event of an attack against an ally, respond.
Experts said there could be minor military clashes between North and South Korea on their heavily armed border this year. North Korea is also expected to test-fire intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the US mainland and other major new weapons, they said.
Estimates of the size of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal range from 20-30 bombs to more than 100. According to many foreign experts, North Korea has yet to overcome a number of technological hurdles to develop a working nuclear-tipped ICBM, although its shorter-range, nuclear-tipped missiles could reach South Korea and Japan.
