Kim Jong Un warns war is ‘realistic reality’ as he pledges to build more nuclear weapons in 2024
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to launch three new spy satellites, build military drones and increase his country’s stock of nuclear weapons in 2024.
Mr Kim said moves by the US and its allies against Pyongyang have been unprecedented in 2023, pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), he said: “The grave situation requires us to accelerate works to acquire overwhelming war response capabilities and thorough and perfect military readiness to suppress any types of provocations by the enemies at a stroke.”
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Kim talks tough to US
He made the remarks during a five-day meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party to set state goals for next year, which ended on Saturday.
Mr Kim announced plans to establish three more spy satellites in 2024 after the country launched its first reconnaissance satellite in November.
He also ordered the state to press ahead with work to manufacture more nuclear weapons and develop various types of unmanned combat equipment, such as armed drones and powerful electronic warfare devices, KCNA said.
Mr Kim has focused on modernising his nuclear and missile arsenals since talks with then-US president Donald Trump broke down in 2019 over disagreements about international sanctions on Pyongyang.
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Heightened tensions
Since last year, North Korea has test-fired more than 100 ballistic missiles – many of which were nuclear-capable weapons which could target the mainland US, in violation of United Nations sanctions.
The US and South Korea responded by expanding their military exercises and deploying US strategic assets such as bombers, aircraft carriers and a nuclear-armed submarine – moves North Korea condemned as US-led invasion rehearsals.
A meeting of the central committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea
Mr Kim said the return of such weapons had transformed South Korea into a “forward military base and nuclear arsenal” of the US.
“If we look closely at the confrontational military actions by the enemy forces… the word ‘war’ has become a realistic reality and not an abstract concept,” he added.
He said he has no choice but to forge deeper relations with other countries which oppose the US – Pyongyang has close ties with both China and Russia.
Last week, South Korea’s spy agency said North Korea will likely launch military provocations and cyberattacks ahead of Seoul’s parliamentary elections in April and the US presidential election in November.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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