North Korea discussed assigning additional duties to its frontline army units at a key military meeting, state media said yesterday, suggesting that the country might deploy battlefield nuclear weapons targeting South Korea along the rivals’ tense border.
The discussion comes as South Korean officials said North Korea has finished preparations for its first nuclear test in five years, as part of possible efforts to build a warhead to be mounted on short-range weapons capable of hitting targets in South Korea.
During an ongoing meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party on Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other top military officers discussed “the work of additionally confirming the operation duties of the frontline units of the Korean People’s Army and modifying the operation plans,” the official Korean Central News Agency said.
Photo: Reuters
Kim also ordered steps to be taken to “enhance the operational capabilities of the frontline units,” the agency said, showing a photo of what appeared to be a map of the Korean Peninsula’s eastern coast, including border sites, near the conference table.
“I can assess the issue of forward-deploying tactical nuclear weapons [was] discussed at the meeting in an in-depth manner,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at South Korea’s private Sejong Institute.
When North Korea in April test-fired a new type of tactical guided weapon, South Korea said the weapon has “great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the front line, long-range artillery units, enhancing the efficiency in the operation of [North Korea’s] tactical nukes and diversification of their firepower missions.”
Its use of the words “tactical nukes” suggested that the weapon is likely short-range and armed with a nuclear warhead. Some experts said that North Korea intends to deploy such weapons to threaten key facilitates in South Korea, including US military bases.
Later in April, Kim said North Korea might pre-emptively use its nuclear weapons if threatened.
The possibility of North Korea having an escalatory nuclear doctrine could pose a greater concern for South Korea, Japan and the US.
Kim convened the military commission meeting earlier this week to confirm “crucial and urgent tasks” to expand military capabilities and implement key defense policies, state media said.
Cheong said that North Korea is expected to perform its seventh nuclear test after the meeting, adding that its third test in 2013 also came days after another commission meeting.
Kim has convened 17 meetings of the military commission since he took power in late 2011, but this is the first to last two days or longer, Cheong said.
Wednesday was the second-day session, with indications showing that the meeting continued yesterday.
Earlier this year, North Korea test-launched a spate of missiles with potential ranges placing the US mainland and Asian allies such as South Korea and Japan within striking distances.
North Korea has intercontinental ballistic missiles potentially capable of reaching the US, but experts have said that the country still needs to master re-entry capability and other technologies to make them functioning weapons.
Some experts have said that North Korea’s weapons launches were meant to modernize its weapons systems and boost its leverage in future negotiations with the US to win sanctions relief and other concessions.
South Korean and US officials have warned North Korea that it would face consequences if it goes ahead with a nuclear test.
However, divisions between permanent members of the UN Security Council make the prospects for fresh punitive international sanctions unclear. Russia and China this year vetoed US-sponsored resolutions that would have increased sanctions, insisting that Washington should focus on reviving dialogue.
Shamans in Peru on Monday gathered for an annual New Year’s ritual where they made predictions for the year to come, including illness for US President Donald Trump and the downfall of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “The United States should prepare itself because Donald Trump will fall seriously ill,” Juan de Dios Garcia proclaimed as he gathered with other shamans on a beach in southern Lima, dressed in traditional Andean ponchos and headdresses, and sprinkling flowers on the sand. The shamans carried large posters of world leaders, over which they crossed swords and burned incense, some of which they stomped on. In this
‘NO COUNTRY BUMPKIN’: The judge rejected arguments that former prime minister Najib Razak was an unwitting victim, saying Najib took steps to protect his position Imprisoned former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was yesterday convicted, following a corruption trial tied to multibillion-dollar looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state investment fund. The nation’s high court found Najib, 72, guilty on four counts of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering related to more than US$700 million channeled into his personal bank accounts from the 1MDB fund. Najib denied any wrongdoing, and maintained the funds were a political donation from Saudi Arabia and that he had been misled by rogue financiers led by businessman Low Taek Jho. Low, thought to be the scandal’s mastermind, remains
Near the entrance to the Panama Canal, a monument to China’s contributions to the interoceanic waterway was torn down on Saturday night by order of local authorities. The move comes as US President Donald Trump has made threats in the past few months to retake control of the canal, claiming Beijing has too much influence in its operations. In a surprising move that has been criticized by leaders in Panama and China, the mayor’s office of the locality of Arraijan ordered the demolition of the monument built in 2004 to symbolize friendship between the countries. The mayor’s office said in
FIGHTING CONTINUES: Thai military dropped 40 bombs on border areas, Cambodia said, while Bangkok said Phnom Penh launched heavy attacks and damaged homes Cambodia yesterday accused Thailand of intensifying its bombardment of disputed border areas, even as officials from the two countries attend a multi-day meeting aimed at negotiating an end to deadly clashes. The neighbors’ long-standing border conflict reignited this month, shattering an earlier truce and killing more than 40 people, according to official counts. About 1 million people have also been displaced. Cambodian and Thai officials were in their third day of talks at a border checkpoint, with ministers of defense from the two countries scheduled to meet today. However, the Cambodian Ministry of National Defense said Thailand’s military carried out a heavy
RSS