Need to contain nuclear threats ‘preemptively:’ Kim to military commanders
Seoul, Apr 30 (EFE).- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has asked his army commanders to bolster the country’s military power so that nuclear threats from hostile forces could be contained “preemptively,” state media reported Saturday.
Kim instructed the North Korean military leadership in a meeting as the army held a massive street parade in Pyongyang earlier this week, said the state-run Korea Central News Agency.
He called on his commanders to maintain the “absolute superiority” of North Korean forces and constantly develop to “pre-emptively and thoroughly contain and frustrate all dangerous attempts and threatening moves, including ever-escalating nuclear threats from hostile forces, if necessary.”
The leader asked the military leadership “to boldly open a new phase of development” of the North Korean forces “if necessary.”
He emphasized that the “tremendous offensive power and overwhelming military muscle” was the “lifeline” and the key to “future” security guarantee in the current world scenario in which “getting strong” is the only way to “preserve dignity, rights and interests,” the KCNA said.
The news agency did not specify the date of the meeting between Kim spoke and his army commanders.
The parade in Pyongyang was held on Monday night in which some 20,000 troops are believed to have participated along with hundreds of weapons, including ballistic missiles, satellite images showed.
At the parade, the North Korean leader vowed to expand the country’s nuclear capabilities “at the fastest rate.”
“Our basic mission regarding nuclear power is to deter war but our nuclear weapons cannot be confined solely within the boundaries of preventing a war until a situation is created that we never hope to witness in this land,” Kim added.
The anniversary comes as North Korea conducted a record number of weapons tests this year, including the first launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in five years, under a weapons modernization program approved last year.
Satellite images during recent weeks have also indicated that Pyongyang may be preparing for its first nuclear test since 2017.
In neighboring South Korea, which has been responding to the North’s tests with its launches, conservative president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is set to take office in two weeks.
He has pledged to adopt a less tolerant attitude towards the neighboring country. EFE
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