DPRK calls for exponential increase in nuclear arsenal

SEOUL — The Democratic People's Republic of Korea calls for an exponential increase in its nuclear arsenal, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday.

The ongoing situation on the Korean Peninsula "highlights the importance and necessity of the mass production of tactical nuclear weapons and calls for an exponential increase of the country's nuclear arsenal", the KCNA reported, citing a report made by the country's top leader Kim Jong-un at the Sixth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.

The report stressed the importance of bolstering the DPRK's nuclear force, and made clear that the nuclear force "considers it as the first mission to deter war and safeguard peace and stability".

A task was also raised to develop another intercontinental ballistic missile system with its main mission to have a "quick nuclear counterstrike", the KCNA said.

Meanwhile, the National Aerospace Development Administration will expedite efforts to launch the country's first military satellite at the earliest date possible "by pushing ahead with the full preparation for a reconnaissance satellite and its vehicle in progress at the final stage", the report said.

Early on Sunday, Pyongyang fired a rocket shell toward the eastern waters.

A long-range artillery subunit in the western area of the Korean People's Army conducted the firing, using a super large multiple rocket launcher, the KCNA reported.

The firing came a day after the DPRK conducted a test of the weapon systems on Saturday.

The KCNA praised the combat performance of the rocket launchers, saying the three shells fired by the launchers on Saturday had precisely hit a target island in the eastern waters.

The Republic of Korea and the United States are discussing possible joint planning and exercises using US nuclear assets in the face of the DPRK's growing nuclear and missile threats, ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol said in a newspaper interview.

The Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted Yoon as saying the joint planning and exercises would be aimed at more effective implementation of the US' "extended deterrence".

"The nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but planning, information sharing, exercises and training should be conducted by South Korea and the United States," said Yoon, adding that Washington is also "quite positive" about the idea.

Agencies - Xinhua