North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced new military targets to ruling Workers’ Party officials, the state news agency reported on Wednesday, hinting that weapons tests would continue to be carried out. ‘next year.
Kim Jong-un has “defined new key objectives for the reinforcement of the self-defense capability, which will be implemented in 2023”, indicated the official North Korean agency KCNA, without giving details.
The northern leader is currently chairing a major annual Party meeting in the capital Pyongyang, where he and other senior party leaders outline their political goals for 2023 in key areas such as diplomacy, security and government. economy.
In his report, Kim Jong-un “analyzed and assessed the difficult new situation that has arisen on the Korean peninsula,” KCNA said, in an apparent reference to the recent escalation of tensions between the two Koreas.
He stressed “the direction of the fight against the enemy that our party should adhere to”, KCNA added.
Nuclear-powered North Korea conducted a record slew of weapons tests this year, including intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches, continuing to defy United Nations sanctions.
On Monday, the South Korean army also announced that it had deployed fighter jets and helicopter gunships after the incursion into its territory of five North Korean drones, one of which had reached the airspace near Seoul. .
Year-end plenary meetings in North Korea usually allow the regime to unveil the country’s priorities both domestically and abroad.
Full details of the current event are expected to be announced at the end of this week.
While Kim Jong-un focused on the national economy at the 2021 plenary meeting, analysts widely expect a shift in tone to emphasize the military domain this year.