NKorea's Kim orders 'exponential' expansion of nuke arsenal

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By HYUNG-JIN KIM an hour ago

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the “exponential” expansion of his country’s nuclear arsenal and the development of a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, state media reported Sunday, after he entered 2023 with another weapons launch following a record number of testing activities last year.

Kim’s moves are in line with the broad direction of his nuclear program. He has repeatedly vowed to boost both the quality and quantity of his arsenal to cope with what he calls U.S. hostility. Some experts say Kim’s push to produce more nuclear and other weapons signals his intention to continue a run of weapons tests and ultimately solidify his future negotiating power and win greater outside concessions.

“They are now keen on isolating and stifling (North Korea), unprecedented in human history,” Kim said at a recently ended key ruling party meeting, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. “The prevailing situation calls for making redoubled efforts to overwhelmingly beef up the military muscle.”

During the six-day meeting meant to determine new state objectives, Kim called for “an exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal” to mass produce battlefield tactical nuclear weapons targeting South Korea. He also presented a task to develop a new ICBM missioned with a “quick nuclear counterstrike” capability — a weapon he needs to strike the mainland U.S. He said the North’s first military reconnaissance satellite will be launched “at the earliest date possible,” KCNA said.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/politics-north-korea-south-895fb34033780fdafd5bf925b376a2c6?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_06

[Alexander Of Assyria]

1. Also record number of American led military exercises capable of invasion.

There are two sides to every story, but the war media will tell you only the American war drum side…

…not to worry, America has thousands of nuclear weapons more than NK and a military budget several times more than its national GDP…and Russia and China already have every American city targeted with multiple city killers…couple more make no difference.

[secondwind]

2. It's just their latest exhibition of testicular power....... it's crazy

[paleotn]

3. Um, the aggression since armistice is nearly always instigated by NK.

You are aware of that?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_border_incidents_involving_North_and_South_Korea

Being nice is good, but making sure one's powder is dry AND that the other side knows you have it is important too, particularly in this case. They're an unbalanced, rogue state (really just one family) that sometimes needs to be shown the obvious. Others need to understand that it's a dangerous world out there and Kumbaya only goes so far.

[PortTack]

4. Nailed it!!

[secondwind]

10. I sm following this pretty carefully, thanks ...

Am not a youngster, 76 yrs old... Have seen it all.

[Evolve Dammit]

17. I keep wondering if Ukraine had not given up their nukes...

[EX500rider]

6. A record number?

Or the standard one exercise a year we hold with our ally South Korea to practice interoperability?

[Alexander Of Assyria]

14. I am counting all the other ones also with all the nations in the area, all, focused on China...

here’s one, can Google bunch more! Plus solos all about the area with dozens of bases…China and NK is surrounded with yankee military! As is most of the world.

Australia is a big military partner also…America has so much military in the Far East, small slice of the near trillion dollars a year spent!, it can afford to run around all over the place with dozens of nations!


https://militarys.info/us-joint-military-exercises.html

[EX500rider]

15. So the US has allies they train with?

What does that have to do with North Korea building nuclear weapons instead of feeding their people?

[Alexander Of Assyria]

19. Nothing. Different topic.

What is America doing building thousands of nuclear weapons instead of caring for its people better?

[EX500rider]

20. The US has been reducing it's stockpile

And the US without nukes would be subjected to nuclear blackmail by Russia, China, etc

[Alexander Of Assyria]

24. Only 3.75 thousand...0 comfort to the planet. That's one nation.

Also all much more efficient than the 70’s and quickly deliverable….but then if u have 3750 warheads…high fail rates, what does it matter?

[EX500rider]

25. The current warheads have a much lower yield then the older models

Used to be in the 5 megaton range, now in the 200 to 500 kiloton.

Because of nuclear weapons the world has been a much more peaceful place, there have been wars, but not between the big players who have the largest and most destructive conventional forces. Because of nuclear weapons a historical record was broken in 1986, as there had never been before, since the modern state system developed in the 16th century, been such a long period without a war between major powers.

The land grabbing imperialists actions of China & Russia would be much more severe without the US nuclear umbrella keeping them in check.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

28. Nuclear is nuclear, abominations...low yield is only tens of thousands dead..much better!??

[Turbineguy]

5. And I hope something slightly unpleasant happens to Kim Jong Un.

[Polybius]

9. What difference would it make?

His father dying made none. In fact I'd argue his father was the best of the three (that sure is not saying much!).

[Martin68]

7. If Kim is serious about this, it portends the bankruptcy and total economic failure of North Korean

society.

[Chainfire]

8. Kim is North Korea

He won't suffer.

[Martin68]

11. No, Kim is not North Korea. Millions of North Koreans are cowed by Kim's authoritarian police state.

But Kim risks the entire house of cards collapsing if he overplays his hand. The entire fragile structure is being maintained with aid from China, Russia, and hard currency from the terrorists to who he sells weapons.

[cstanleytech]

12. Seems very few question what are the sources of the tech and hardware needed.

North Korea is after all a rather small country with limited materials as well as the ability to produce the needed technology and hardware for things such as ballistic missiles.
Yet we see them carrying out multiple tests of said missiles so how the unanswered question is how are they able to do this.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

13. It is a interesting question. Appears the answer is the value placed on education, as in SK, so

there is a large pool of scientists of various kinds needed for the sophistication of the weapons produced.

Such a waste of human talent, SK and NK together in peace would be an economic tiger.

Wikipedia

Higher education[edit]

Institutions of higher education include colleges and universities; teachers' training colleges, with a four-year course for preparing kindergarten, primary, and secondary instructors; colleges of advanced technology with two or three-year courses; medical schools with six-year courses; special colleges for science and engineering, art, music, and foreign languages; and military colleges and academies. Kim Il-sung's report to the Sixth Party Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in October 1980 revealed that there were 170 "higher learning institutions" and 480 "higher specialized schools" that year.[3]

In 1987 there were 220,000 students attending two- or three-year higher specialized schools and 301,000 students attending four- to six-year colleges and university courses. According to Eberstadt and Banister, 13.7 percent of the population sixteen years of age or older was attending, or had graduated from, institutions of higher education in 1987-88. In 1988 the regime surpassed its target of producing "an army of 1.3 million intellectuals," graduates of higher education, a major step in the direction of achieving the often-stated goal of "intellectualization of the whole society."[3]

[cstanleytech]

22. I'm not talking about the knowledge itself rather the technology and the other materials needed.

They could of course be using stuff that they scavenged from stuff they already had but I doubt that that would be enough to let them launch new missiles at the rate they have been firing them.
That is what has gotten me to wonder what the source of it might be and the two most likely ones are Russia and China as they both border North Korea.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

23. Metals are not hard to procure, the technology is all brainpower I would wager.

[cstanleytech]

27. You have to then refine them and machine them properly not to mention the electronics needed to

run the engine and guidance system.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

29. Ofc, all mostly brainpower...machining and refining common metals is ancient technology.

[EX500rider]

26. Have read that Iran & N Korea help each other too, after Russians helped NK nt

[EX500rider]

16. I had read that they imported some Russian help

As the Russians space programs have downsized I'm sure there are lots of unemployed rocket scientists

[live love laugh]

18. Things that happen when America is in turmoil for $100 Alex.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

21. Kim Jong Uhm needs an exponential decrease in whatever kind of drugs he's taking...

...and an increase in normal hair styling.