Diminutive Kim Jong Un reappeared in public on Monday for the first time in more than a month to issue a fresh warning to the United States and its allies over his army’ “readiness for war.”
Kim was spotted presiding over a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission just two days before the country’s massive armed-forces parade commemorating the Korean People’s Army’s 75th anniversary of its foundation (KPA).
It was the first time he had been seen in public in 36 days, his second-longest absence, NK News reported, generating increased speculation about his health. 2014 marked his longest absence of forty days.
Kim used the conference to announce the increase of military training just days after his country threatened to unleash the “most overwhelming nuclear force” in response to the expansion of US military operations in the region.
Kim Jong Un made his second-longest public appearance on Monday to preside over a meeting of the Korean Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission.
Tuesday, the state’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that his senior military brass reviewed “the issue of constantly expanding and intensifying the operation and combat drills of the KPA to cope with the prevailing situation and more strictly perfecting the preparedness for war.”
According to the state report, Kim also urged his men to achieve “ever-victorious feats” and demonstrate “unmatched military strength.”
The commission also examined vague organizational reforms to “fundamentally improve and strengthen” its military affairs, with photographs depicting an apparent new “missile general bureau” flag.
The much-anticipated summit occurred only days after North Korea issued warnings regarding the expansion of US military drills with South Korea, a reaction to the North’s changing threat following an unsettling, record-setting year of missile tests.
The North’s Foreign Ministry stated on Thursday that the expansion of the allies’ drills pushed tensions to a “extreme red line” and threatened to transform the peninsula into a “massive war arsenal and a more dangerous war zone.”
The North stated that it was prepared to respond to any short-term or long-term military threat with the “most overwhelming nuclear force.”
Monday’s summit also occurred just two days before Wednesday’s 75th anniversary of the formation of the Korean People’s Army.
The anniversary is anticipated to be celebrated with a massive parade highlighting the military’s expanding nuclear weapons and missile program, which is causing anxiety among IS allies.
Kim is anticipated to utilize a military parade on Wednesday to display his nuclear weapons, like he did in 2021.
AP
Already, commercial satellite footage has revealed troops practicing formations in Pyongyang, the administrative capital of the kingdom.
North Korea launched around seventy ballistic missiles in 2022, including possible nuclear-capable missiles aimed to strike South Korean or potentially U.S. mainland sites.
In reaction to the Trump administration’s decision to reduce the extent of the drills, North Korea staged a series of what it characterized as simulated nuclear assaults on South Korean and American sites.
Kim called for a “exponential increase” in the country’s nuclear capabilities during a key party meeting in December.
The objective of Kim’s threats, according to experts, is to force the White House to recognize the Hermit Kingdom as a nuclear power, thereby allowing it to negotiate economic and political concessions from a position of strength.
Nonetheless, there are indications that the costs of Kim’s expanding nuclear ambitions are mounting.
State-run media in North Korea said on Monday that the governing Workers’ Party has set a meeting of its powerful Central Committee for later this month to discuss the “urgent task” of boosting agricultural production in the face of intensifying economic isolation.
According to some experts, the nation’s food insecurity is likely at its highest level since the 1990s, when a catastrophic famine killed hundreds of thousands of people.
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