North Korea’s Kim Jong-un calls for boosting military capabilities

TIL Desk/World/Seoul/ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for boosting the country’s military capabilities to counter what he called “hostile forces” against Pyongyang but said the move is not aimed at a war against South Korea or the US, state media reported on Tuesday.

Kim made the remarks on Monday in a speech at a defence development exhibition to mark the 76th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party, criticising Seoul and Washington over their combined military exercises and weapons development.

“The US has been frequently signaling that it’s not hostile to our country, but there has been no behavioural ground to believe that it is not,” Pyongyang’s official Korean News Agency quoted Kim as saying. “For our descendants we need to be strong. We need to first be strong.” The remarks came less than two weeks after North Korea tested a new anti-aircraft missile in its fourth missile launch in September alone.

At the rare expo, North Korea showcased its new weapons, including the recently developed “hypersonic” missile, and the Hwasong-16 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The Defence Ministry in Seoul announced on Tuesday that South Korean and American intelligence authorities are analysing the weapons unveiled at the expo.