Diminutive North Korean despot Kim Jong Un re-emerged in public Monday for the first time in more than a month — to tout his troops’ “preparedness for war” in a fresh warning to the US and its allies.
Kim was photographed presiding over a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission just two days before the country’s huge armed forces parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army (KPA).
It was the first time he’d been seen in public in 36 days — his second-longest break — sparking renewed speculation over his health, NK News said. His longest absence was 40 days in 2014.
Kim used the meeting to announce expanded military drills just days after his nation warned it was prepared to use the “most overwhelming nuclear force” over the expansion of US military exercises in the region.
His top military brass discussed the “issue of constantly expanding and intensifying the operation and combat drills of the KPA to cope with the prevailing situation and more strictly perfecting the preparedness for war,” the state’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Tuesday.
Kim also called on his forces to perform “ever-victorious feats” and display “matchless military strength,” the state report said.
The commission also discussed unspecified organizational changes to “fundamentally improve and strengthen” its military affairs, with photos showing a flag representing a seemingly new “missile general bureau.”
The much-ballyhooed meeting came just days after North Korea issued warnings over the US expanding its military drills with South Korea, itself a response to the North’s evolving threat after an alarming, record-breaking year in missile testing.
The North’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the expansion of the allies’ drills took tensions to an “extreme red line” and threatened to turn the peninsula into a “huge war arsenal and a more critical war zone.”
The North said it was prepared to counter any short- or long-term military challenge with the “most overwhelming nuclear force.”
Monday’s meeting also came just two days before the 75th anniversary of the Korean People’s Army on Wednesday.
The anniversary is expected to be marked with a huge parade touting the military’s growing nuclear weapons and missile program that’s brewing concern for the US and its allies.
Commercial satellite imagery has already shown troops practicing formations in Pyongyang, home to the kingdom’s government.
North Korea fired more than 70 ballistic missiles in 2022, including potential nuclear-capable weapons designed to strike targets in South Korea or even reach the US mainland.
It also conducted a slew of launches it described as simulated nuclear attacks on South Korean and US targets in response to the expanded drills that had been downsized during the Trump administration.
During a major political conference in December, Kim called for an “exponential increase” of the country’s nuclear capabilities.
Experts say Kim’s threats are aimed at forcing the White House to accept the Hermit Kingdom as a nuclear power, opening it to negotiate economic and political concessions from a position of strength.
But there are also signs that the costs of Kim’s growing nuclear ambitions are piling up.
North Korean state media said Monday that the ruling Workers’ Party has scheduled a meeting of its powerful Central Committee later this month to discuss the “urgent task” of improving agricultural production amid deepening economic isolation.
Some experts have said the country’s food insecurity is likely at its worst since the 1990s, when a devastating famine killed hundreds of thousands of people.
With Post wires
