North Korea pledges to launch three new spy satellites and build up its arsenal of drones and nuclear warheads, while Kim Jong Un says he will no longer seek appeasement with the South

Kim Jong Un has called for an “overwhelming” war readiness as he announced a military build-up and said he would no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with South Korea.

The North Korean leader lashed out at America in lengthy remarks on Sunday, capping five days of ruling party meetings that set economic, military and foreign policy goals for the coming year.

“Due to the enemies’ reckless attempts to invade us, it is a fait accompli that war could break out on the Korean Peninsula at any time,” he said, according to state news agency KCNA.

Kim pledged to launch three new spy satellites by 2024, build more military drones and expand his nuclear arsenal, which analysts say could already contain 20 to 60 nuclear warheads, if not more.

“The grave situation requires us to accelerate work to acquire overwhelming war response capabilities and thorough and perfect military preparedness to suppress any provocation by the enemies in one fell swoop,” Kim said.

North Korea already has one spy satellite in orbit, which was launched in November.

In July, the reclusive country unveiled two new types of military drones, which the Stimson Center said closely resembled the large US Global Hawk and the medium US Reaper. 38 North.

At this week’s meeting, Kim said he would no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with South Korea, noting the “ongoing, uncontrollable crisis situation” he said was caused by Seoul and Washington.

“I believe it is a mistake we should no longer make to regard the people who declare us as the ‘main enemy’… as a counterpart to reconciliation and unification,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

“North-South relations are no longer a kinship or homogeneous relationship, but have completely become a relationship between two hostile countries, two belligerents at war,” he said, calling the South a colonized state completely dependent on the United States for national defense and security. .

He ordered the military to prepare to “pacify the entire territory of South Korea,” including with nuclear bombs if necessary, in response to an attack.

Kim’s speech comes ahead of a year that will see crucial elections in both South Korea and the United States.

Experts predict North Korea will continue a campaign of military pressure around the U.S. presidential election in November, which could see the return of former President Donald Trump, who exchanged both threats and historic diplomacy with Kim.

“Pyongyang may be waiting for the US presidential election to see what its provocations can get the country in the next administration,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul.

President Joe Biden’s administration says it is open to talks but imposed new sanctions as North Korea pushed ahead with more missile tests banned under United Nations sanctions.

Since last year, Kim’s military has tested more than 100 ballistic missiles, many of them nuclear weapons, aimed at the US mainland in violation of UN bans.

The US has also stepped up exercises and deployed more military assets, including nuclear-armed submarines and large aircraft carriers, near the Korean Peninsula.

Kim said the return of such weapons has completely transformed South Korea into a “forward military base and nuclear arsenal” of the United States.

“If we look closely at the confrontational military actions of the enemy forces… the word ‘war’ has become a realistic reality and not an abstract concept,” Kim said.

Kim said he has no choice but to pursue his nuclear ambitions and forge deeper ties with other countries that oppose the United States. North Korea has close ties with both China and Russia.

“North Korea is preparing for a further escalation of tensions with Washington and Seoul for at least a year or more, and its hardline policies are likely to be accompanied by attempts at dialogue, including in the run-up to the US elections,” said Yang Uk. This was said by an analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

“Kim is building on his success with the spy satellite to do three more, because he knows satellite capabilities are a powerful targeting tool for better nuclear command and control.”

South Korea will hold parliamentary elections in April that could impact the domestic and foreign agenda of conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has maintained an aggressive stance toward Pyongyang.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) warned on Thursday that “there is a high probability that North Korea will carry out unexpected military provocations or conduct a cyber attack in 2024, when fluid political situations are expected with the elections.”

North Korea says it successfully launched its first military spy satellite in the past year and tested new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), believed to have the range to deliver a nuclear warhead anywhere in the United States to deliver.

A new reactor at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear complex appears to be operating for the first time, the U.N. nuclear watchdog and independent experts said this month, providing an additional potential source of plutonium for nuclear weapons.

North Korea has not tested a nuclear weapon since 2017, but has taken steps to resume operations at its test site in recent years.

Kim said further military development will take place in 2024, including strengthening nuclear and missile forces, building unmanned drones, expanding the submarine fleet and developing electronic warfare capabilities.

The fleet of spy satellites would be the North’s first such capability.

That successful launch in November was preceded by two failed attempts last year when the new Chollima-1 rocket crashed into the sea.

The move increased regional tensions and led to new sanctions from the US, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Pyongyang has not yet released images of the new satellite, leaving analysts and foreign governments to debate its capabilities.

The apparent success also came after Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to help North Korea build satellites.

South Korean officials said Russian help likely made a difference in the mission’s success, although experts said it was unclear how much help Moscow could have provided.