Kim hints at another missile test for North
Reclusive leader says preparations have ‘reached final stage’ for test and US must stop nearby war games with South
TOKYO // North Korean leader Kim Jong- un hinted yesterday that Pyongyang may bring in the new year with another bang – the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
In his New Year’s address, Mr Kim said that after testing what the North claims was its first hydrogen bomb last year, preparations for launching an ICBM have “reached the final stage”.
He did not explicitly say an ICBM test, which if successful would be a big step forward for the North, was imminent. His birthday is next Sunday, and last year Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test on January 6.
In his address, Mr Kim threatened to boost his country’s military capabilities unless the US ends war games with rival South Korea. He also said efforts must be made to defuse the possibility of another Korean war and stressed the importance of building the economy under a five-year plan announced in May.
“The political and military position of socialism should be further cemented as an invincible fortress,” he said.
“We should resolutely smash the enemies’ despicable and vicious moves to dampen the pure and ardent desire of the people for the party and estrange the people from it.” The address was shown on TV mixing video of Mr Kim speaking and stretches of audio only and still photos. It was less than 30 minutes long.
South Korea’s unification ministry said that it “strongly condemns” Mr Kim’s threat to test launch an ICBM and strengthen North Korea’s nuclear-strike capabilities.
It said the international community would not tolerate North Korean efforts to develop nuclear weapons, and that Pyongyang would face tougher sanctions and pressure if it continued down that path. Under Mr Kim, who came to power following his father’s death in 2011, North Korea has made steady progress in its nuclear and missile programmes, including two nuclear tests last year.
It recently claimed a series of technical breakthroughs in its goal of developing a long-range nuclear missile capable of reaching the US mainland. The UN has passed resolutions calling for an end to the North’s nuclear and missile tests, but Mr Kim appears uninterested in complying.
The year ahead in East Asia is uncertain, with Donald Trump set to become the US president, and South Korea’s politics in disarray over a scandal that led to the impeachment of president Park Geun-hye.
Mr Kim indicated there would be no change in the North’s nuclear policy unless Washington made a big conciliatory first move, which, even with the advent of Mr Trump, would seem unlikely. Mr Trump has suggested he would be willing to meet Mr Kim – but not in North Korea. At the same time he has indicated that he wants China to exert significantly more control over Pyongyang to get it to abandon its nuclear programme. Demands from Pyongyang for the US to stop its joint military exercises with the South and enter into negotiations to sign a peace treaty formally ending the 1950 to 1953 Korean War have fallen on deaf ears in Washington for years amid an atmosphere of distrust.
Mr Kim’s New Year addresses, and a marathon speech at the May ruling party congress, are a contrast with his enigmatic father, Kim Jong-il, who rarely spoke in public. But the son has yet to meet a foreign head of state or travel outside of North Korea since assuming power.