PYONGYANG HINTS OF LONG-RANGE MISSILE TEST LAUNCH
TOKYO— North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hinted on Sunday that Pyongyang may ring in the new year with another bang—the test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
In his annual New Year address, Kim said after testing what the North claims was its first hydrogen bomb last year, preparations for launching an ICBM have “reached the final stage.”
Kim did not explicitly say an ICBM test, which if successful would be a big step forward for the North, was imminent.
But he has a birthday coming up—on Jan. 8—and last year, Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test on Jan. 6.
Kim threatened in the 30minute address to boost his country’s military capabilities further unless the United States ended war games with rival South Korea.
But 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,” Kim said, according to an outline of the speech carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
“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,” he added.
Under Kim, who rose to power following his father’s death in 2011, North Korea has seen steady progress in its nuclear and missile programs, including two nuclear tests in 2016.
North Korea recently claimed a series of technical breakthroughs in its goal of developing a long-range nuclear missile capable of reaching the continental United States.
UN resolutions called for an end to North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.
Kim appears uninterested in complying.
The year ahead could be a tumultuous one in north Asia, with Donald Trump set to become the new US president on Jan. 20, and South Korea’s politics in disarray over a scandal that brought the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.
Kim indicated there would be no change in Pyongyang’s nuclear policy unless Washington made a big, conciliatory first move, which, even with the advent of Trump, would seem unlikely.