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North Korean leader says US policy makes war inevitable
NORTH Korea vowed to launch three new spy satellites, build military drones and boost its nuclear arsenal in 2024 as leader Kim Jong-Un said United States policy was making war inevitable, state media reported yesterday.
Kim lashed out at Washington in lengthy remarks wrapping up five days of ruling party meetings that set economic, military and foreign policy goals for the coming year.
“Because of reckless moves by the enemies to invade us, it is a fait accompli that a war can break out at any time on the Korean peninsula,” he said, according to state news agency KCNA.
He ordered the military to prepare to “pacify the entire territory of South Korea”, including with nuclear bombs if necessary, in response to any attack.
Kim’s speech comes ahead of a year that will see pivotal elections in South Korea and the US.
Experts predict North Korea will maintain a campaign of military pressure for leverage around the US presidential elections in November, which could see the return of former president Donald Trump, who traded in threats and historic diplomacy with Kim.
“Pyongyang might wait out the US presidential election to see what its provocations can buy it with the next administration,”
said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
The administration of US President Joe Biden had said it was open to talks, but it imposed new sanctions as North Korea pushed ahead with more missile tests banned under United Nations’ sanctions. The US also increased drills and deployed more military assets, including nuclear-armed submarines and large aircraft carriers, near the Korean peninsula.
Kim said the return of such weapons had completely transformed South Korea into a “forward military base and nuclear arsenal” of the US.
“If we look at the confrontational military actions by the enemy forces... the word ‘war’ has become a realistic reality and not
an abstract concept,” Kim said.
He said he had no choice but to press forward with his nuclear ambitions and forge deeper relations with other countries that oppose the US.
North Korea has deep ties with China and Russia.
“North Korea is preparing for further escalation of tension with Washington and Seoul, for at least a year or more, and its hardline policies are likely to be accompanied by efforts for dialogue as well ahead of the US election,” said Yang Uk, an analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
“Kim is building on his success of the spy satellite to do three more because he knows satellite capabilities are powerful targeting tool for better nuclear command and control.”
South Korea holds a parliamentary election in April that could impact the domestic and foreign agenda for conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol, who has maintained a hawkish stance towards Pyongyang.
Pyongyang has ruled out the possibility of unifying with South Korea and the country must fundamentally change its principle and direction towards South Korea, Kim said.
“North-South relations are no longer a kinship or homogeneous relationship, but have completely become a relationship between two hostile countries, two belligerents at war,” he said, calling the South a colonised state completely dependent on the US for national defence and security.