North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the “exponential” expansion of his country's nuclear arsenal, the development of a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile and the launch of its first spy satellite, state media reported Sunday.
“They are now keen on isolating and stifling , unprecedented in human history,” Kim said at a recently ended ruling party meeting, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. “The prevailing situation calls for making redoubled efforts to overwhelmingly beef up the military muscle."Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Tactical nuclear weapons and a military reconnaissance satellite are among Kim's long wish list of new weaponry. Other weapons he wants include a multi-warhead missile, a more agile solid-fueled ICBM, an underwater-launched nuclear missile and a hypersonic weapon. Some observers say North Korea wants to become a legitimate nuclear power state as a way to win the lifting of U.N. and other international sanctions and force the end of the regular U.S.-South Korean military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.
Outside worries about North Korea’s nuclear program have grown since the North last year approved a new law that authorized the preemptive use of nuclear weapons in a broad range of situations and openly threatened to use its nuclear weapons first.“ made clear that our nuclear force considers it as the first mission to deter war and safeguard peace and stability. However, if it fails to deter, it will carry out the second mission, which will not be for defense,” KCNA said.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the U.S. commitments to defend South Korea and Japan “remain ironclad.”
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