According to state media, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited soldiers to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the country’s army and praised the “irresistible power” of his nuclear-armed armed forces.
The visit occurred at a time when there are signs that North Korea is getting ready to have a big military parade in its capital, Pyongyang, where it may display the newest equipment of a developing nuclear weapons program that worries its neighbors and the United States.
Kim’s daughter Kim Ju Ae, said to be 9 or 10 years old, stood close to her father as he shook the hands of top officials and sat next to him at a table during her fourth known public appearance. According to analysts, Kim’s decision to take his daughter to military-related public events is meant to serve as a reminder to the world that he has no plans to voluntarily give up his nuclear weapons, which he reportedly views as the best assurance of his survival and the continuation of his family’s dynastic rule.
Discussions on whether Kim Ju Ae is being groomed to succeed her father have been sparked by the state media’s laudatory descriptions of her, in which she has been termed “respected” and “loving.” She joined her father to a meeting with military specialists and a ballistic missile inspection in addition to seeing an intercontinental ballistic missile flight test in November.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency of North Korea, Kim visited the general officers’ quarters of the Korean People’s Army on Wednesday with his daughter. Later, at a dinner, he addressed the soldiers and gave them a motivational speech, congratulating them for maintaining the “strongest army in the world” despite external challenges.
The visit occurred a day after Kim requested for an extension of combat drills to enhance war preparedness during a meeting with his senior military leadership. Kim is looking to intensify his already provocative series of weapons displays in response to rising tensions with his neighbors and Washington.
Military leaders could be seen cheering at the meal, which looked to be hosted at Pyongyang’s Yanggakdo Hotel, in images published by the state media. Kim and his daughter strolled down a red carpet with his wife, Ri Sol Ju, while wearing matching black suits and white dress shirts.
Being the supreme commander of an army that is “fulfilling (the) call of the times and history as the strongest army in the world” is, in Kim’s words during his address, his “highest honor” and “happiest pleasure.”
No remarks made against Washington or Seoul were included in state media reporting on Kim’s visit to the military. The North’s military is ready to launch a “super powerful attack of unfathomable force to wipe away the roots of provocations without a trace,” according to an editorial published in Pyongyang’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Wednesday.
The North Korean government’s escalating nuclear policy and its belief in “power-to-power, all-out conflict” with foes, according to the newspaper, are supported by the country’s increased weapon tests and battle drills last year.
The schedule for a military display, which may occur later on Wednesday, has not been confirmed by North Korea. As troops queued up to salute, citizens of Pyongyang observed the occasion by going to the city’s Mansu Hill to place flowers and pay tribute to the monuments of their late leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, who were the ruler’s grandfather and father, respectively.
Commercial satellite photos have shown weeks of apparent preparations including a sizable military and civilian presence for an occasion normally meant to exalt Kim Jong Un’s regime and his unrelenting pursuit of the North’s nuclear status.
Food shortages and North Korea’s growing economic isolation are further signs that the price of Kim’s nuclear aspirations is rising.
The dozens of missiles that North Korea shot in 2022 included possibly nuclear-capable systems intended to reach targets in South Korea and the U.S. mainland. North Korea is coming off a record-breaking year for weapons testing.
Intense comments threatening preemptive nuclear strikes against its neighbors and the United States in a variety of situations when it could consider its leadership as being under danger punctuated the testing activity’s increased intensity.
As Kim intensifies his nuclear drive through 2023, tensions may increase in the next months.
Kim demanded the “exponential increase” of the nation’s nuclear warheads, the mass production of tactical nuclear weapons for use on the battlefield that would target the “enemy” South Korea, and the creation of more potent intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach the entire United States during a significant political conference in December.
Along with conducting developmental tests, North Korea may also step up its military displays in retaliation to South Korea and the United States’ escalating joint military drills, which the allies claim are meant to address the North’s developing threat.
The U.S. plans to expand its joint military exercises with South Korea and send more sophisticated military equipment, such as bombers and aircraft carriers, to the region. The North Korean Foreign Ministry warned last week that the country is ready to respond to these actions with the “most overwhelming nuclear force” to ensure its security.
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