SEOUL
\nNorth Korea vowed to launch three new spy satellites, build military drones, and boost its nuclear arsenal in 2024 as leader Kim Jong Un said U.S. policy is making war inevitable, state media reported on Sunday.
\nKim lashed out at Washington in lengthy remarks wrapping up five days of ruling party meetings that set economic, military and foreign policy goals for the coming year.
\n\u201cBecause of reckless moves by the enemies to invade us, it is a fait accompli that a war can break out at any time on the Korean peninsula,\u201d he said, according to state news agency KCNA.
\nHe ordered the military to prepare to \u201cpacify the entire territory of South Korea,\u201d including with nuclear bombs if necessary, in response to any attack.
\nKim\u2019s speech comes ahead of a year that will see pivotal elections in both South Korea and the United States.
\nExperts predict North Korea will maintain a campaign of military pressure for leverage around the U.S. presidential elections in November, which could see the return of former President Donald Trump, who traded in both threats and historic diplomacy with Kim.
\n\u201cPyongyang might be waiting out the U.S. presidential election to see what its provocations can buy it with the next administration,\u201d said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
\nPresident Joe Biden\u2019s administration says it is open to talks, but it imposed new sanctions as North Korea pushed ahead with more missile tests banned under United Nations\u2019 sanctions.
\nSouth Korea\u2019s defence ministry condemned Pyongyang\u2019s plans to press ahead with its nuclear ambitions.
\n\u201cIf North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons against us,
\nwe will retaliate overwhelmingly by utilizing the dramatically
\nstrengthened extended deterrence of the ROK-U.S. alliance and the three-axis system, and the Kim Jong-Un regime will face its end,\u201d the defense ministry said in a statement.
\nSeoul\u2019s Unification Ministry said in a statement analyzing the KCNA report that \u201cfurther provocation is always possible to highlight North Korea\u2019s presence ahead of the U.S. presidential election\u201d.
\n\u201c(North Korea) could maintain its hard line stance against the U.S. and anti-American, anti-imperialist solidarity, and also seek opportunities to turn the situation around at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL North Korea vowed to launch three new spy satellites, build military drones, and boost its nuclear arsenal in 2024 as leader Kim Jong Un said U.S. policy is making war inevitable, state media reported on Sunday. Kim lashed out at Washington in lengthy remarks wrapping up five days of ruling party meetings that set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-377884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n