North Korea's Kim Jong Un urges heightened military preparedness against US and South Korea
In a bold move, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has issued a directive urging the bolstering of warfighting capabilities, citing increased tensions with the United States and South Korea. This call for heightened military preparedness raises concerns about the stability in the Korean peninsula.
FollowNorth Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un has sought high military preparedness as the US and South Korea conduct joint military exercises. The tensions have been flaring up in the Korean peninsula since 2022 after Pyongyang began conducting frequent missile tests, something that went down when Donald Trump was in the White House.
The deal that Donald Trump brokered for peace in the Korean peninsula has long lost its effect. The new regime in the White House continued enforcing tough sanctions on North Korea that forced the isolationist state into getting more aggressive to face its adversaries.
Kim Jong Un on Wednesday visited a Western active military base to view the preparations by the North Korean soldiers. The supreme leader also urged military leaders and soldiers for military preparedness due to the brewing situation across the border. An official Korean Central Agency quoted Kim saying, “steadily intensify the actual war drills aimed at rapidly improving its combat capabilities for perfect war preparedness.”
The aggressive comments come after two days when North Korea's defense minister threatened the US and South Korea. The minister warned to conduct responsible unspecified military activities as the US and South Korea went ahead with their joint military exercises.
The military exercises began on Monday consisting of more than 40 activities that are aimed at preparing and combating conflicts in the sea as well as on the ground. The 48 activities being conducted this time are more than doubled since last year's military exercises between the US and South Korea.
Analysts believe that the latest actions of North Korea are due to the largening of the economic sanctions levied on the isolationist state. North Korea believes that widening its weapons kitty would enlarge its bargaining chip with its adversaries, especially the US in the context of sanctions.
