North Korea unveiled new, smaller nuclear warheads on Tuesday as a US aircraft carrier strike group docked in South Korea.
The unveiling of the warheads, dubbed Hwasan-31, shows potential advances by the North in making warheads powerful yet small enough to place on ICBMs capable of reaching American shores, experts told Portal.
Images released by North Korea showed Kim Jong Un looking at the guns in an undisclosed location.
“He said with deep emotion that we have undauntedly walked a rigorous and long road to possessing nuclear weapons, and once again clarified that the enemy of our nuclear forces with powerful deterrence is not any state and not a specific group, but war and nuclear catastrophe itself and our Party’s line of increasing nuclear power is aimed at defending the eternal security of the state and regional peace and stability from A to Z,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (centre) on Tuesday ordered his country to increase production of “weapons-grade nuclear materials.” (KRT/via Portal TV/Handout)
KCNA also said Kim has directed his country’s Nuclear Weapons Institute to “expand production of weapons-grade nuclear materials in a far-sighted manner in order to thoroughly implement the party’s Central Committee plan to exponentially increase nuclear arsenals.”
The events were reported as a US aircraft carrier strike force led by the USS Nimitz docked in Busan, South Korea, following joint naval exercises, according to Portal.
“We do not seek conflict with the DPRK. We seek peace and security. We’re not being coerced, we’re not being bullied and we’re not going anywhere,” the strike group’s commander, Rear Admiral Christopher Sweeney, was quoted as saying.
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The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz approaches a naval base in Busan, South Korea on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. (Yonhap/Portal)
However, the state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a recent column that the naval exercises amounted to an “open declaration of war” and showed signs of a “pre-emptive attack” against North Korea, Portal reported.
“The frenetic war drills in the puppet region are not just military drills, but nuclear war drills for a pre-emptive strike…according to the US political and military option to escalate the confrontation with the DPRK and eventually lead to war,” it reportedly said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects nuclear warheads at an undisclosed location. (KRT/via Portal TV/Handout)
North Korea launched a ballistic missile off its east coast on Monday.
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Portal reported that the South Korean military confirmed the missile launch, as did the Japan Coast Guard, who said the projectile fell from the sky.
Monday’s incident came just days after rockets were fired from South Hamgyong province last Wednesday.
Fox News Greg Wehner contributed to this report.