North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday ordered the country’s nuclear arsenal to be expanded “exponentially”. The country must be ready to use the weapons at any time, he insisted, to ramp up production of nuclear material for weapons. At the same time, the ruler presented new, smaller warheads.
The state news agency KCNA quoted the ruler as saying he had ordered the production of weapons-grade material in a “prescientious manner” to increase his nuclear arsenal “exponentially” and produce powerful weapons.
The expansion of North Korea’s arsenal is solely for the defense of the country and to promote peace and stability in the region. Kim also ordered that the weapons should be even more powerful in the future.
New nuclear warheads ‘worrying’
KCNA released photos of the warheads dubbed Hwasan-31. Experts say the images could indicate progress in miniaturizing warheads powerful but small enough to be mounted on ICBMs that can reach the US. “It has a little more power in a smaller space (…) That’s concerning,” Kune Y. Suh, emeritus professor of nuclear engineering at Seoul National University, said after a 2016 warhead comparison.
Military testing increased
Kim also toured new tactical nuclear weapons and technology for mounting warheads on ballistic missiles, as well as plans for nuclear counterattacks. He was also briefed on an IT-based integrated nuclear weapons management system, the accuracy, reliability and safety of which had been verified during recent nuclear counterattack simulation exercises, KCNA reported.
North Korea has recently stepped up its military tests. The locked-down country fired short-range ballistic missiles on Monday and had also tested strategic underwater weapons and simulated nuclear counterattacks against the United States and South Korea last week. The government in Pyongyang has accused the two allies, South Korea and the US, of attempting an invasion through their joint military exercises.
Source: Krone
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