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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has instructed the military, including its nuclear programme, to ‘accelerate’ war preparations in response to what he described as unprecedented hostile steps by the United States, according to Al Jazeera.
The North Korean leader “set forth the tasks for the People’s Army and the munitions industry, nuclear weapons, and civil defence sectors to further accelerate war preparations” at a meeting of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party on Thursday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
According to KCNA, Kim also stated that the ‘military situation’ on the Korean peninsula had become ‘extreme’ as a result of ‘unprecedented’ confrontations between North Korea and the US.
The preparations were not described in detail by the state news agency, however South Korea, Japan, and the United States have increased political and defence cooperation this year in response to Pyongyang’s record-breaking run of weapons tests, and have recently activated a system to communicate real-time data on North Korean missile launches.
A US nuclear-powered submarine arrived in the South Korean port city of Busan earlier this month, and Washington also deployed long-range bombers in drills with Seoul and Tokyo, according to Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, Pyongyang successfully launched its first military spy satellite on the third attempt, tested its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-18, and entrenched nuclear power status in the country’s constitution.
Nuclear talks broke down in 2019 following the failure of a series of high-stakes summits with then-US President Donald Trump over sanctions relief in exchange for Pyongyang’s partial surrender of its nuclear programme.
