Kim Jong Un has flagged an 'exponential' expansion of North Korea's nuclear arsenal through the mass production of tactical nuclear weapons and the development of new missiles for nuclear counterstrikes.
He says the country needs to secure "overwhelming military power" to defend against threats.
In a report at the end of a key party meeting in Pyongyang, Kim said the country must "overwhelmingly beef up the military muscle" in 2023 in response to what it called US and South Korean hostility, the official KCNA reported. It capped the record-breaking year of launches by firing three short range ballistic missiles early Saturday, and conducting another rare late-night launch at 2:50 am on Sunday, Seoul's military said.
"North Korea is signalling a tactical shift of indirectly pressuring the United States by pressuring South Korea and escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula starting this year." The launches come just days after Seoul scrambled fighter jets as five North Korean drones made an incursion into the South's airspace Monday.
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