North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s speech at a highly unusual defense exhibition this week has offered a hint of what to expect in the coming months and comes in the wake of a September that saw the nuclear-armed country test a variety of powerful new weapons.
Addressing top North Korean officials with the regime’s most advanced new weapons looming nearby, Kim spoke of a need to “steadfastly safeguard peace” in response to the United States’ “hostile policies” and South Korea’s growing military power by “steadily developing” what he repeatedly called a “powerful defense capability."
In pushing for that development, analysts say, Kim is positioning his country to ride out both the COVID-19 pandemic and the term of the current U.S. administration, which appears unlikely to offer the kind of concessions he has long sought. At the same time, the North's leader is normalizing weapons tests and cementing his regime's status as a de facto nuclear power.
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