{"id":41050,"date":"2024-01-01T12:44:17","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T12:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=41050"},"modified":"2024-01-01T12:44:18","modified_gmt":"2024-01-01T12:44:18","slug":"kim-jong-un-has-vowed-to-launch-3-spy-satellites-and-more-nuclear-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2024\/01\/01\/kim-jong-un-has-vowed-to-launch-3-spy-satellites-and-more-nuclear-in-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Kim Jong Un has vowed to launch 3 spy satellites and more nuclear in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to launch three additional military spy satellites,\u00a0produce more nuclear materials<\/strong>\u00a0and introduce attack drones in 2024, as he called for \u201coverwhelming\u201d\u00a0war readiness<\/strong>\u00a0to cope with U.S.-led confrontational moves, state media reported Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kim\u2019s comments, made during a key ruling Workers\u2019 Party meeting<\/strong> to set state goals for next year, suggest he\u2019ll intensify a run of weapons tests ahead of the U.S. presidential elections in November. Observers say Kim believes a boosted nuclear capability would give him another chance for high-stakes diplomacy with the U.S. to win sanctions relief if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the five-day meeting that ended Saturday, Kim said \u201cvicious\u201d anti-North Korea moves by the United States and its followers \u201chave reached the extremes unprecedented in history,\u201d pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Kim cited the expansion of U.S.-South Korean military exercises and the temporary deployment of powerful U.S. military assets such as bombers and a nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea \u2014 the steps the allies have taken in response to the North\u2019s weapons testing spree since last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim called for \u201cthe overwhelming war response capability\u201d to deter potential enemy provocations, KCNA said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He set forth plans to launch three more military spy satellites next year in addition to the country\u2019s first reconnaissance satellite launched in November<\/strong>. He underscored the need to establish \u201ca reliable foundation\u201d to build more nuclear weapons,<\/strong> an apparent reference to facilities producing fissile materials like weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium. Kim also ordered authorities to enhance submarine capabilities and develop various types of unmanned combat equipment such as armed drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPyongyang might be waiting out the U.S. presidential election to see what its provocations can buy it with the next administration,\u201d said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Kim regime has closed the political door on denuclearization negotiations but could offer rhetorical restraint and a testing freeze in exchange for sanctions relief,\u201d Easley said. \u201cAlthough North Korea has no intention of giving up nuclear weapons, it might try to extract payment for acting like a so-called responsible nuclear power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim has been focusing on modernizing his nuclear arsenal since his diplomacy with Trump broke down in 2019 due to wrangling over how much sanctions relief the North could get for a partial surrender of its nuclear program. Experts say Kim likely thinks that Trump, if elected for a second term, could make concessions as the U.S. is preoccupied with the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Korea University in South Korea, said if President Joe Biden is reelected, North Korea won\u2019t get what it wants. But he predicted a Trump win could revive diplomacy, saying Trump will likely say during his campaign that he can convince North Korea to suspend intimidating weapons tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Kim\u2019s vow to ramp up production of plutonium and uranium is meant to strengthen his negotiating cards. Nam said North Korea will also test-launch more intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the continental U.S. this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNorth Korea will act to the fullest extent under its timetable for provocation until the U.S. election day,\u201d Nam said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his speech at the party meeting, Kim used bellicose, derisive rhetoric against South Korea, calling it \u201ca hemiplegic malformation and colonial subordinate state\u201d whose society is \u201ctainted by Yankee culture.\u201d He said South Korea must not be considered as a partner for reconciliation or unification. He ordered the military to use all available means including nuclear weapons to conquer South Korea in the event of a conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korea\u2019s Unification Ministry responded by strongly condemning North Korea for pushing to advance its nuclear program and displaying hostility toward its neighbors. A statement said South Korea will try to overwhelmingly deter North Korean threats based on a solid alliance with the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some analysts have speculated that limited clashes between the Koreas along their tense border<\/strong> could happen in the coming year. South Korea\u2019s spy agency said last week that North Korea will likely launch military provocations and cyberattacks ahead of South Korean parliamentary elections in April and the U.S. presidential election in November. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim also maintained that North Korea must solidify cooperation with \u201canti-imperialist, independent\u201d countries that he said oppose U.S.-led Western hegemony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim didn\u2019t name the countries. But North Korea has been seeking to beef up its cooperation with Russia and China, which have repeatedly blocked attempts by the U.S. and its partners to toughen U.N. sanctions on the North over its banned missile tests. The U.S. and South Korea accuse North Korea of supplying artillery and ammunition to Russia in return for high-tech Russian technologies for its own military programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julianne Smith, U.S. permanent representative to NATO, said earlier this month the U.S. assessed that the suspected Russian technologies North Korea seeks are related to fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment or materials of that kind. Smith said U.S. intelligence indicates that North Korea had provided Russia with more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korean officials said Russian support likely enabled North Korea to put its spy satellite into orbit for the first time on Nov. 21. Many foreign experts are skeptical about the satellite\u2019s ability but South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik said in November that Russia could help North Korea produce higher-resolution satellite photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yang Uk, an analyst at Seoul\u2019s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said that he believes North Korea hasn\u2019t yet obtained functioning ICBMs that can launch nuclear strikes on the continental U.S. But he said North Korea\u2019s shorter-range nuclear-armed missiles can reach South Korea and Japan, where a total of 80,000 American troops are stationed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estimates on the size of North Korea\u2019s nuclear arsenal vary, ranging from 20-30 bombs to more than 100. The U.N. atomic agency and foreign experts recently said North Korea appears to have started operating a light-water reactor<\/strong> at its main nuclear complex in a possible attempt to secure a new source for weapons-grade plutonium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Kim said during the meeting that North Korea made \u201ceye-opening\u201d economic achievements by fulfilling or exceeding set quotas in major areas such as farming, housing construction and fisheries. Nam, the professor, said the self-praise appears aimed at burnishing Kim\u2019s image as a leader who cares about public livelihoods as well as military issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to launch three additional military spy satellites,\u00a0produce more nuclear materials\u00a0and introduce attack drones in 2024, as he called for \u201coverwhelming\u201d\u00a0war readiness\u00a0to cope with U.S.-led confrontational moves, state media reported Sunday. Kim\u2019s comments, made during a key ruling Workers\u2019 Party meeting to set state goals for next year, suggest he\u2019ll intensify […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":41052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[11363,6728,9747,285,12168,5304,5777,5178,11250,9204,10387,8924,8982,10767,3513,10347,7445,911,8123,4840,12027,5930,11715,3095,2959,2471,7749,8562,6690,9833,5572,5254,12985,12187,4802,8000,7964,5253,6666,5925,10165,11057,11542,3805,11377,1776,10313,3457,5217,5713,9205,8370,7185,10553,10041,7422,10907,9818,5377,10236,9178,12605,5180,5521,5465,9262,214,6563,5251,8869,5724,6571,2982,594],"class_list":["post-41050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-aircraft","tag-alliance","tag-ammunition","tag-arsenal","tag-artillery","tag-attack","tag-banned","tag-biden","tag-bombs","tag-border","tag-campaign","tag-chance","tag-combat","tag-conflict","tag-culture","tag-diplomacy","tag-drones","tag-election","tag-eye","tag-farming","tag-freeze","tag-hamas","tag-housing","tag-israel","tag-japan","tag-joe-biden","tag-kim-jong","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-korea","tag-meeting","tag-military","tag-missile","tag-missiles","tag-n","tag-nato","tag-negotiations","tag-north","tag-north-korea","tag-nuclear","tag-nuclear-power","tag-nuclear-program","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-orbit","tag-president","tag-presidential","tag-presidential-election","tag-professor","tag-russia","tag-russian","tag-sanctions","tag-satellite","tag-seoul","tag-south-korea","tag-south-korean","tag-speech","tag-spy","tag-spy-satellite","tag-submarine","tag-surrender","tag-tech","tag-troops","tag-uk","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-war","tag-un","tag-united-states","tag-university","tag-uranium","tag-war","tag-water","tag-weapons","tag-white","tag-white-house","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41050"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41053,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41050\/revisions\/41053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}