North Korean leader Kim Jong Uncalled for reinforcement.“national defense capabilities” With tensions fully escalating on the Korean peninsula, and at an important meeting of the Labor Party, he acknowledged the country’s “lacks” in the face of a wave of covid infections.
Kim launched this message at the close of this important appointment to decide the regime’s organizational issues and political priorities, which lasted three days and ended the day before, state media reported on Saturday.
Although Kim does not directly refer to the United States or South Korea, stressed the need for the regime to continue to advance in weapons developmentAfter conducting a record number of missile tests this year, and it’s all set to conduct another nuclear test at underground facilities.
Aside from the issue of security, much of the plenary session and Kim’s response was devoted to the “grave health crisis” caused by the coronavirus, with the leader previously seeking to “correct the shortcomings and evils of epidemic prevention duties”. government agency KCNA.
More defensive abilities
“The current security situation is in danger of getting worse” Calling on the country to “achieve the goal of increasing its defensive capabilities as soon as possible” in support of its sovereignty, Kim reaffirmed the principle of “fight by force”, according to KCNA.
These guidelines come after Pyongyang conducted a record 18 missile tests this year, including some of the ever feared intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and indications repeatedly detected by Washington and Seoul at North Korean nuclear facilities. It marks a new atomic test that will be the first since 2017.
At the one-party plenary meeting, it was also decided to appoint Choe Son-Hui, who until now North Korea’s deputy foreign minister and previously responsible for nuclear weapons issues and disarmament negotiations with the United States, as the new foreign minister. .
According to KCNA, the former foreign minister, Ri Son-gwon, will be in charge of inter-Korean relations.
Korean peninsula lives tension levels not seen in five years Because of the North’s insistence on weapons tests and the stricter stance that Washington and Seoul have responded to, including launching their own missiles and larger-scale military exercises.
These maneuvers exemplify the strategy of “extended deterrence” on the peninsula that US president Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, who came to power on May 10, carried out with the White House leader. I met her in Seoul three weeks ago.
Pre-pandemic “new phase”
Who on the pandemic, “strengthening the foundations of the health system” and to analyze the “deficiencies” detected at the time of the “maximum emergency”, after the regime first confirmed the presence of covid on its territory on May 12.
“Anti-epidemic policy can be successful when implemented in a strict, scientific and advanced manner,” said Kim, and called for “continuous improvement of transmission prevention systems and methods.”
The leader also stated Country’s strategy against covid-19 ‘enters a new phase’ focused on infection prevention measures after the previous phase, which was built on the “blocking and eradication” of the virus.
The hermetic regime that rejects shipments of vaccines proposed by South Korea or the COVAX fund reported 42,810 new possible coronavirus infections this Saturday, bringing the cumulative total to 4.39 million suspected covid-19 cases, about 18% of its population.
North Korean media did not provide additional data on the deaths. The last time they did this a week ago, they probably put the number of deaths from covid-19 at 71; this would yield an unusually low death rate, causing experts to doubt the reliability of these statistics.
In a country that has been completely closed from the outside since the global health crisis began and will soon accept donations from China and make the first injections, according to the GAVI vaccine alliance, the true extent of the pandemic is unknown. among its population.