The North Korean leader has pledged to launch three more spy satellites and produce more nuclear weapons in 2024.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to launch three more military spy satellites, produce more nuclear weapons and introduce modern attack drones in 2024, calling for war readiness to make in the face of confrontational measures led by the United States, state media reported on Sunday.
The statements, made at a key meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party to set state targets for next year, suggest it will step up a series of weapons tests ahead of November’s US presidential elections .
Some observers say Kim Jong Un believes an enhanced nuclear capability would give him a chance of winning relief from U.S. sanctions if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House.
During the five-day meeting that ended Saturday, the North Korean leader said the measures “vicious” of the United States and its supporters “reached extremes unprecedented in history”pushing the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war, according to the official North Korean news agency KCNA.
Kim Jong Un cited the expansion of U.S.-South Korean military exercises and the temporary deployment of powerful U.S. military assets such as bombers and a nuclear submarine to South Korea – steps the allies took in response to North Korea’s wave of weapons tests since last year.
Kim Jong Un called for “overwhelming war response capability” to deter potential enemy provocations.