North Korea: Kim orders increased nuclear arsenal

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered an increased nuclear arsenal for the isolated nation. The order follows Pyongyang’s latest missile launch on New Year’s Day.

North Korean state media outlet KCNA reported Kim’s remarks at a ruling Worker’s Party meeting on Sunday. Kim’s remarks came hours after North Korea fired a missile off its east coast. In his remarks to party members during the meeting, Kim accused the United States and South Korea of plotting to “isolate and stifle” North Korea, describing it as “unparalleled in human history.”

Kim said the current situation calls for North Korea to “double down” the efforts to strengthen military power in order to “safeguard our sovereignty, safety, and basic national interest to cope with the dangerous military moves by the US and other hostile forces that target us,” according to KCNA.

“It highlights the importance and necessity of mass producing tactical nuclear weapons and calls for an exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal,” said Kim. The North Korean leader also reportedly ordered the production of a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM “with a rapid nuclear counterattack capability as its basic mission.”

Kim also said Pyongyang plans to launch its first military spy satellite soon.

The report by the North Korean media outlet follows the report by the South Korean military of a missile detected in Pyongyang on Sunday. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile travelled around 400 kilometers before falling into the water between the Korean peninsula and Japan.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the latest launch was a “grave provocation” that undermines peace and security in the peninsula and around the world.

North Korea previously launched three ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Saturday. The Japanese defense ministry said the three missiles were launched minutes apart from each other. All three missiles were fired from Pyongyang and reached an altitude of 100 kilometers and flew at an estimated 350 kilometers.

The missiles fell into the Sea of Japan but outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, according to the ministry and other news outlets.