Days after overseeing the country's largest intercontinental missile launch, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has promised to create "more powerful" weapons.
According to the state news agency KCNA, the dictator stated that only by having fearsome striking capabilities and overwhelming military force can one avert a conflict, ensure the country's security, and contain and control all imperialist threats and blackmails.
Kim Jong Un Says ICBM Will Help Deter US Military Moves
South Korea and other observers are concerned that North Korea is preparing to conduct its first nuclear weapons test in nearly five years. North Korea fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in 2017, defying a United Nations embargo.
Hwasong-17, dubbed as the "monster missile" by defense analysts, was claimed to have been utilized in the test. The test was hailed as a "significant milestone" in North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
On Monday, Kim Jong Un met with authorities, scientists, technicians, and laborers who were engaged in the most recent ICBM test. During a picture session with the Hwasong-17 in the background, Kim Jong Un committed to improve the country's offensive capabilities to deal with threats, Independent reported.
Kim Jong Un stated that the new ICBM will help prevent any military actions by the US while personally overseeing the test on Thursday. After the 1950-1953 Korean War concluded in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the United States is still formally at war with North Korea.
Washington has attempted to persuade Pyongyang to hand over or reduce its stockpile of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of striking targets in the United States, as per Mirror.
Analysts Claim North Korea's Missile Launch Was a Deception
Meanwhile, analysts said they discovered inconsistencies in North Korea's footage of the country's largest missile test, concluding that Pyongyang was "deceiving" about the launch.
In defiance of debilitating international sanctions, North Korea announced it successfully test-fired its new Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday, the first time the country has done so since 2017. However, additional facts - such as anomalies uncovered in North Korea's overly styled film portraying Kim Jong Un supervised the launch - have cast doubt on Pyongyang's claims.
Colin Zwirko, a senior analytical correspondent with NK Pro, a Seoul-based website that monitors North Korea, has examined commercial satellite imagery and footage released by state media, and he claims that differences in weather, sunlight, and other factors indicate that the launch shown by North Korea occurred on a different day.
The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) in the United States found that a portion of the North Korean film is most likely from a test on March 16 that failed shortly after launch, exploding in mid-air above Pyongyang. That launch, or its failure, was never acknowledged by North Korea.
According to anonymous sources quoted by South Korea's Yonhap news agency, intelligence authorities in Seoul and Washington think North Korea fired a Hwasong-15 ICBM on Thursday, an older and somewhat smaller kind it previously tested in late 2017.
The defense ministry of South Korea has not validated this judgment. When asked if the recent launch was the new missile, a senior US defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, evaded, according to Daily Mail.
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