2024 is shaping up to be a tense year on the Korean Peninsula. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has issued new threats of nuclear strikes against South Korea, and has also ordered the acceleration of military preparations for a "war" that can "be unleashed at any time" on the peninsula, state news agency KCNA reported Sunday (December 31st).

The leader attacked the United States in a lengthy speech at the end of a five-day meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea's Central Committee, an end-of-year meeting that sets the country's strategic directions.

During the meeting, the ruling party announced the launch of three new spy satellites in 2024, the construction of drones and the development of electronic warfare capabilities, according to KCNA.

After two successive failures in May and June, North Korea successfully launched its first military observation satellite into orbit in November.

Moscow's technological assistance

South Korean intelligence believes that Pyongyang has received decisive technological assistance from Russia, where Kim Jong-un visited in September and met with President Vladimir Putin, to successfully put the satellite, the "Malligyong-1", into orbit.

North Korea conducted a record number of ballistic missile tests in 2023, in violation of numerous UN resolutions prohibiting it. It has enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its Constitution, and has successfully tested the Hwasong-18, the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in its arsenal, capable of reaching the United States.

Kim Jong-un accused Washington in his speech of "various types of military threats" and ordered his armed forces to maintain "an overwhelming capacity to respond to war," according to KCNA.

It is "a fait accompli that a war can break out at any time on the Korean Peninsula due to the reckless movements of enemies to invade us," the leader said.

In an effort to deter the U.S. armed forces have sent the nuclear-powered submarine USS Missouri, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and a B-52 strategic bomber to South Korea in recent months, each time angering North Korea.

North Korea has previously described Washington's deployment of strategic weapons as an "intentional provocation of a nuclear war."

"We should respond quickly to a possible nuclear crisis and continue to accelerate preparations to pacify the entire territory of South Korea by mobilizing all means and physical forces, including nuclear force, in case of emergency," Kim Jong-un said.

A 'persistent and uncontrollable crisis situation'

Pyongyang sees the military drills on its doorstep as a rehearsal for a future invasion of its territory, and has long viewed its missile tests as necessary "countermeasures."

At the party meeting, the leader said he was no longer seeking reconciliation and reunification with South Korea, stressing the "persistent and uncontrollable crisis situation" that he said had been triggered by Seoul and Washington.

In 2018, the two Koreas began a process of rapprochement, characterized by three meetings between Kim Jong-un and the then South Korean president, Moon Jae-in.

But relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated to a low point this year, after Pyongyang's launch of a spy satellite prompted Seoul to partially suspend a 2018 military deal aimed at defusing tensions.

"I think it's a mistake we shouldn't make anymore to consider those who declare us their 'main enemy' (...) as a partner for reconciliation and unification," Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA.

As a result, he ordered a reshuffle of the administrations managing relations with the South in order to "fundamentally change direction".

Leif Easley, a professor of international relations at Ewha University in Seoul, said Pyongyang's focus on its "significant military capabilities" was likely aimed at hiding the country's economic woes this year. "Pyongyang's bellicose rhetoric suggests that its military actions are not only aimed at deterrence but also at domestic politics and international coercion," he said.

With AFP

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