New goals for North Korea’s military were announced by Kim Jong Un in a report to party leaders Wednesday, state media has reported. As per the report, the country will continue to conduct weapons tests in the next year, ignoring all sanctions against it. A major party meeting is currently on in Pyongyang, during which Kim and other senior party officials will set policy goals for 2023 in key areas including diplomacy, security and the economy.
Kim “set forth new key goals for bolstering up the self-reliant defence capability to be pushed ahead with in 2023,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday.
Hinting at the recent tensions in the area between North and South, the report “analysed and assessed the new challengeable situation created in the Korean peninsula,” KCNA said.
Kim made clear the “orientation of struggle against the enemy to be adhered to by our Party,” KCNA added.
The country has carried out a record-breaking number of weapons tests this year, including firing intercontinental ballistic missiles. Notably, UN sanctions ban North Korea from conducting such tests.
It has been regularly provoking Seoul by firing artillery into maritime buffer zones. Just this week, it sent unmanned drones into South Korea’s airspace.
The incursion by the five drones, the first such incident since 2017, prompted Seoul to fire warning shots and deploy fighter jets and attack helicopters to shoot them down.
The year-end plenary meetings held in the country are used to unveil the country’s priorities both domestically and overseas for the year ahead. Full details of the current ongoing plenary are expected to be announced later this week after its conclusion.
While domestic economy was the focus of the 2021 event, analysts are widely expecting a shift in tone to highlight the military front this year.
(With inputs from agencies)
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