North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un said at a key meeting of his ruling party through Saturday that Pyongyang plans to launch three more spy satellites in 2024 following the deployment of its first one in November, state-run media said.
Kim also told the plenary session of the Workers' Party of Korea that Pyongyang will further boost its nuclear arsenal next year amid the expanded security cooperation between the United States, South Korea and Japan, the official Korean Central News Agency said Sunday.
The leader pointed out the confrontational nature of the United States and its "top class stooges" is getting "more vicious" and the prevailing grave situation requires Pyongyang to steadily step up its military combat readiness to deter any form of provocation.
"The word 'war' is already approaching us as a realistic entity, not as an abstract concept," the report said. The leader stressed the need for the nuclear weapons field to "lay a reliable foundation for steadily increasing the production of nuclear weapons" in 2024, it added.
Kim said inter-Korean ties have been "completely fixed into the relations between two states hostile to each other and the relations between two belligerent states," with Seoul viewing Pyongyang as its "principal enemy." He indicated party organizations in charge of dealing with South Korea will be reorganized.
He said it is not suitable for North Korea to discuss the issue of reunification with South Korea, saying Seoul is "no more than a colonial stooge" of the United States.
Kim noted the country has not fully achieved goals stipulated in its five-year national defense plan from 2021 and called for the boosting of "underwater and surface combat strength of the navy."
The year-end party gathering was convened on Tuesday to review the North's policies from 2023 and discuss a draft budget for next year. The meeting unanimously approved six agenda items including the budget and personnel changes, KCNA said.
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