Wednesday January 13th 2021
Speech at party congress
Kim wants to strengthen nuclear deterrence
At the end of the eight-day party congress in Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un once again opened the heavy verbal guns. His country must expand its military capacities at all costs, says the ruler of North Korea. The main enemy is to be targeted with new weapons.
At the end of an eight-day congress of the ruling Labor Party, North Korea's ruler Kim Jong Un declared the expansion of the nuclear arsenal as a goal. Everything must be done to build the strongest military capacities and "further strengthen nuclear war deterrence," Kim was quoted as saying by the state-controlled media. At the same time, on the last day of the congress in Pyongyang, Kim declared that the country must also focus on developing the economy and improving people's living conditions.
The eighth party congress took place shortly before the inauguration of the new US President Joe Biden – at a time when negotiations between the US and North Korea over its nuclear weapons program are no longer making progress. Kim had already announced on Friday that his country would strengthen nuclear deterrence. Among other things, he called for the development of tactical nuclear weapons and new ICBMs with solid propulsion that could also reach the USA. He called the United States the "main enemy".
North Korea is internationally isolated because of its nuclear program. Harsh sanctions are hampering the country's economic development. The future depends on how the decisions made at Congress, including a new "five-year plan for national economic development," are implemented, Kim said on the last day. At the start of the party meeting, he admitted that the goals of the old development plan had not been achieved by any means.
Formally, the Congress, which was originally supposed to be held every five years, is the party's most important body. However, the seventh congress in May 2016 was the first in 36 years.
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