North Korea’s Kim calls for more ‘practical, offensive’ war deterrence to counter US, South Korea
North Korea
During his recent remarks, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for the expansion of the country’s war deterrence capabilities in a “more practical and offensive” way, reported the state media, on Tuesday (April 11). This was said in the context of what Kim has called “frantic” aggression by the United States and South Korea.
The report by Pyongyang’s state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), said that these remarks were made on Monday when Kim attended a meeting of the Central Military Commission to discuss ways to “cope with the escalating moves of the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet traitors to unleash a war of aggression.”
This also comes as North Korea has tested a record number of missiles and weapons, since the beginning of this year, including the recently tested nuclear-capable underwater drones, claimed the state media. Meanwhile, the US and South Korea have been conducting military drills more frequently, which led North Korea, days earlier, to accuse Washington of escalating the tensions in the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war.
During his remarks, on Monday, Kim also ordered that the country’s deterrence capabilities be strengthened with “increasing speed” and in a “more practical and offensive” manner, reported the KCNA. It added, that the meeting also discusses “practical matters and measures for machinery to prepare various military action proposals that no means and ways of counteraction are available to the enemy.”
North Korea cuts communication with South Korea amid drills with US
The South Korean Unification Ministry said on Monday that North Korea has not responded to their regularly held calls, the fourth straight day, on the inter-Korean liaison communications channel. The calls in question usually takeplace between 9:00 am (local time) and 5:00 pm (local time).
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In a news-briefing spokesman Koo Byoung-sam told reporters that Seoul is “weighing the possibility of a unilateral cut-off” by Pyongyang, adding that this is the first time since October 2021 that all inter-Korean military lines or liaison calls have stopped for more than a day, reported Bloomberg.
The communication lines were first opened in 2018 when the two countries set up hotlines after a series of summits aimed at decreasing tensions in the region, however, this is reportedly not the first time that North Korea has shut the communications links in displays of anger. The line was restored in July 2021 following North Korea’s shutdown for nearly a year over South Korean activists sending leaflets critical of Kim’s regime across the border by balloon, as per Bloomberg.
(With inputs from agencies)
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