Seoul — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called on the armed forces to “strengthen their power in every way to annihilate the enemy,” state media reported Friday.
Kim spoke during a photo session with the military, the state media station, and others involved in a large military parade on Monday to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the military’s founding.
A photo released by state media showed Kim sitting on a white horse and wearing a white military-style tunic with gold edging while reviewing the army.
The parade on Monday featured some of North Korea’s latest missiles, including the largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Hwaseong-17, and recently tested hypersonic missiles.
The exhibition showed “the modernity, heroism, and radical development of the republic’s army and their unparalleled military and technological advantages,” Kim told the army in a photo shoot, state news agency. Company KCNA reported.
North Korea opposes the war and states that its weapons are for self-defense, but in a parade on Monday Kim said that the mission of the nuclear army not only stopped the war, but also the “basic interests” of the country. He said it would include protection.
North Korea resumed testing its largest ICBM last month, with signs that it will be able to test its nuclear weapons for the first time since 2017.
“Current satellite imagery shows that preparations are well underway and should not be underestimated as a trivial activity,” said the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), based in the United States, Thursday. Said in the report.
Analysts and South Korean and US officials said a tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site used for an underground nuclear explosion before North Korea closed in 2018 during denuclearization talks with Washington and Seoul3. He said he seems to be restoring the issue.
Kim has said that the country is no longer bound by the moratorium of its voluntary testing since then, but North Korea has not commented on the work or confirmed its purpose.
According to CSIS, Monday’s commercial satellite imagery shows the construction of new buildings, the movement of timber, and the increase in equipment and supplies just outside the new entrance to Tunnel No.3.
“The date of the seventh nuclear test will undoubtedly depend only on Kim Jong Un’s personal decision,” the report said.
Josh Smith