North Korea is on the move to possess the world’s powerful nuclear arsenal.
As he promoted dozens of military commanders involved in the most recent launch of a new ballistic missile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his nation aspires to have the most powerful nuclear arsenal in the world, according to state media on Sunday.
The announcement was made after Kim pledged to fight what he called U.S. nuclear threats while inspecting a test of North Korea’s biggest ICBM, the Hwasong-17, on November 18.
North Korea’s “ultimate goal is to possess the world’s most powerful strategic force, the absolute force unprecedented in the century,” Kim said in the order promoting the officers, adding that building up the country’s nuclear capabilities would reliably protect the dignity and sovereignty of the state and the people.
He described the Hwasong-17 as the “world’s strongest strategic weapon” and said it demonstrated North Korea’s resolve and ability to eventually build the world’s strongest army.
North Korean scientists have made a “wonderful leap forward in the development of the technology of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles,” and were expected to expand and strengthen the country’s nuclear deterrent capabilities at an extraordinarily rapid pace, Kim was also quoted as saying.
According to state media, those workers pledged to defend the “absolute authority” of the party and Kim, and vowed that “our missiles will fly vigorously only in the direction indicated” by Kim.
Capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, the launch of the Hwasong-17 prompted the United States to call for a United Nations Security Council presidential statement to hold North Korea accountable for its missile tests, which are banned by Security Council resolutions.
State media also showed Kim Jong Un’s daughter accompanying him as he reviewed the officers. Her unexpected first appearance at the Hwasong-17 test has raised the prospect that leadership of the totalitarian state could pass to a fourth generation of Kims.
The Hwasong-17 missile was given the honorific title of “DPRK Hero and Gold Star Medal and Order of National Flag 1st Class” by North Korea’s ruthless Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly, according to another announcement from the government-run KCNA news agency.
According to KCNA, “(The missile) clearly proved before the world that the DPRK is a full-fledged nuclear power capable of standing against the nuclear supremacy of the U.S. imperialists and fully demonstrated its might as the most powerful ICBM state.”
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
