Kim Jong-un calls for increase of nuclear weapons in response to 'dangerous military moves by the US'

Kim Jong-un was attending a summit of the North Korean Worker’s Party, in the final week of 2022 where he committed to building up his country’s advanced weapons stockpile.

Record year of missile launches

Just hours before entering 2023,Jong-un reportedly marked the end of the year by supervising the launch of another intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), The Guardian reports.

An ICBM is a rocket able to carry nuclear weapons and travel long distances. In North Korea’s case, the dictator Jong-Un has been claiming for years now that they are able to strike the US mainland.

Nevertheless, 2022 will be remembered as the year in which Kim Jong-un made a record number of missile launch tests.

According to the New York Times, between Saturday and Sunday, North Korea launched at least four short-range ballistic missiles which are able to hit South Korea.

Read more:

⋙ Kim Jong-un's regime fires most missiles in a day as tension between North and South Korea increase

⋙ South Korea ups its surveillance as North Korea launches missiles

‘Undoubted enemy’

In his speech which was released by the North Korean state media KCNA, Jong-un singled out South Korea as his country’s ‘undoubted enemy’ which according to him is stocking up on weapons:

South Korea, our undoubted enemy, [is] hell-bent on an imprudent and dangerous arms buildup.

For this reason, Jong-un called for expanding North Korea’s nuclear capabilities ‘exponentially’ which according to him should primarily serve a defensive role and then have a second attacking nature:

Our nuclear force considers it as the first mission to deter war and safeguard peace and stability and, however, if it fails to deter, it will carry out the second mission, which will not be for defence.

Jong-un also accused the US and South Korea of isolating North Korea, something which he has described as unprecedented in human history:

a plot to isolate and stifle Pyongyang, [this is] unparalleled in human history.

Read more:

⋙ 'Evolving threat' from North Korea forces US and South Korea to begin joint military drills

The dictator of the hermit kingdom also called for doubling down on building up his military against the US and other enemies, The Guardian reports:

The currently established situation calls for our country doubling down our efforts to strengthen our military power overwhelmingly to safeguard our sovereignty, safety and basic national interest to cope with the dangerous military moves by the US and other hostile forces that target us.

Sources used:

-TheGuardian: ‘Kim Jong-un vows to ‘exponentially’ increase nuclear warhead production’

-NewYorkTimes: ‘North Korea Vows to Escalate Nuclear Threat Against the South’