North Korean leader Kim Jong Un SEOUL, June 24 (AP): North Korean leader Kim Jong Un doubled down on his nuclear arms buildup to overwhelm "hostile forces" at a key meeting where military leaders approved unspecified new operational duties for frontline army units.
Members of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Military Commission decided to supplement an "important military action plan" on the duties of frontline troops and further strengthen the country's nuclear war deterrent, state media said Friday.
North Korea hasn't specified the new operational duties for frontline army units, but analysts say the country could be planning to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons targeting rival South Korea along their tense border.
While North Korea's pursuit of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that could reach the US mainland gets much of the international attention, it is also developing a variety of nuclear-capable, short-range missiles that can target South Korea. Experts say its rhetoric around those missiles communicates a threat to proactively use them in warfare to blunt the stronger conventional forces of South Korea and the United States. About 28,500 US troops are stationed in the South to deter aggression from the North.
Kim during the military commission's three-day meeting that ended Thursday called for his entire army to "go all out" in carrying out the plans to bolster the nation's military muscle and consolidate "powerful self-defence capabilities for overwhelming any hostile forces and thus reliably protect the dignity of the great country."
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