North Korean leader Kim Jong Un intends to develop "the world's most powerful" nuclear arsenal, according to the state news agency KCNA. As per the agency reports, Kim stated Saturday that the "ultimate goal" of North Korea's nuclear program was to have an "absolute force, unprecedented in the century," as part of an order promoting dozens of military leaders.
The directive follows a November 18 "test launch of a new kind" of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). As per KCNA, the missile was a Hwaseong-17, a massive rocket that is theoretically capable of delivering a nuclear payload to the continental United States.
In his remarks, Kim praised the authorities that created the new missile. The missile, in his words, represents "a wonderful leap forward in the development of the technology of placing nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles," making it "the world's strongest strategic weapon." Kim claimed that North Korea had shown the rest of the world through the development of the new ICBM "the confident, ever-victorious future of our state progressing toward the objective of developing the world's greatest army."
North Korean Academy of Defense Science experts claimed in a letter to Kim that the test shooting was a "great historic achievement" for the nation and proved North Korea's sovereignty. Kim personally attended the launch with what is thought to be Ju Ae, his daughter. It is to be noted that Pyongyang also made a video of the missile launch, just the third time it has done so since 2017.
While the test did reveal Pyongyang's capacity to launch a sizable ICBM and maintain it in the air for more than an hour, North Korea has yet to show it can mount a warhead on a long-range ballistic missile that can survive the violent reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Analysts, however, assert that North Korea is honing its capabilities through repeated testing.
