At a meeting of senior political leaders on Wednesday, state media claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un submitted vague aims to significantly boost his military capabilities in the next year. This may be a hint that he would continue his provocative series of weapons demonstrations.
Kim’s comment was made at a time when tensions with North Korea’s archrival South Korea were at an all-time high this week. This week, South Korea accused North Korea of flying drones over the border between the two countries, which had not happened in the previous five years. North Korea has already broken the record for the number of missile tests it has conducted in a single year. According to analysts, this is part of an effort by the country to update its arsenal and improve its leverage in any future negotiations with the United States.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim analysed new security challenges in international politics and on the Korean Peninsula during the Tuesday session of the ongoing plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party. He also clarified principles and directions to take in external relations and fights against enemies to protect national interests and sovereignty.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim “laid out new important aims for strengthening up the self-reliant defence capabilities to be pushed forward with in 2023 under the multilaterally changing environment,” but the news agency did not provide any other details.
Some observers believe that the new goals could be connected to Kim’s efforts to increase the size of his nuclear arsenal and to introduce a variety of high-tech weapons systems. These high-tech weapons systems could include multi-warhead missiles, a more agile long-range weapon, a spy satellite, and advanced drones. They claim that Kim would ultimately want to exploit his improved nuclear capabilities to compel its adversaries to acknowledge the North as a genuine nuclear power. Kim would believe that having this status is important in order to have international sanctions eased on his country.
After detecting what it claimed five North Korean drones that breached South Korea’s airspace on Monday, the South Korean military responded by firing warning shots, launching fighter aircraft and helicopters, and launching helicopter gunships. As a further form of retaliation, South Korea is suspected to have sent its own monitoring assets, most likely in the form of unmanned drones, over the border into North Korea.
The military of South Korea admitted that it was unable to fire down the drones and issued a public apology for raising fears about the country’s security. In order to keep a closer eye on North Korea, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol has advocated for the development of advanced stealth drone technology.
Experts are divided on whether or not North Korea’s drone flights were intended to test the preparedness of the United States and South Korea as well as to undermine a prior deal to reduce tensions between the two Koreas. They think that North Korea most likely viewed its drones as a cheap but effective means to provoke security anxieties and a domestic division in South Korea. This is according to the people.
Yoon, a conservative who was elected president in May and entered office in May, said on Tuesday that South Korea has had very little anti-drone training since 2017, which was the year that Moon Jae-in, the liberal who preceded Yoon in office, was installed. Yoon’s statement that “I think our people must have seen well how dangerous a policy relying on the North’s good faith and (peace) agreements would be” was an apparent attempt to blame Moon’s engagement policy toward North Korea for the allegedly lax air defence system. Yoon made this statement in an attempt to blame the allegedly lax air defence system on Moon.
In response to the nuclear dangers posed by North Korea, the South Korean Ministry of Defense has stated that it will work to strengthen its so-called three-axis system over the course of the next five years. This system includes preemptive strike, missile defence, and retaliatory attack capabilities. The plan was announced on Wednesday. It has said that in order to accomplish this goal, it intends to increase the number of stealth fighter planes and submarines that are able to fire ballistic missiles, increase the number of interceptor missiles and radars that it operates, and create more powerful, precision-guided weapons.
It was also said that South Korea will acquire a variety of drones in order to boost its capabilities in the area of surveillance.