North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has again threatened to use the country’s nuclear forces “preemptively”. “To maintain absolute superiority,” North Korea must be able to “preemptively and completely contain and thwart all dangerous attempts and threats,” Kim told high-ranking military officials, according to the state-run KCNA news agency on Saturday. Nuclear weapons “guarantee the security of our country”.
Pyongyang must therefore continue to expand its arsenal, Kim said. North Korea must have “overwhelming military strength that no force in the world can provoke”. Kim made a similar statement at a military parade on Monday: “The fundamental task of our nuclear forces is war deterrence, but our nuclear weapons cannot be tied to just one task,” he threatened at the time, according to KCNA.
weapons tests
Despite tough international sanctions, North Korea has continued to modernize its military in recent years and has carried out a series of weapons tests this year. The military also fired an ICBM for the first time since 2017. In April, Pyongyang also announced that it was testing a new tactical nuclear weapons system.