Kim Jong-un Orders Military To Improve Its War Readiness

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his military to expand combat exercises and strengthen war readiness as he seeks to escalate an already provocative string of weapons demonstrations in the face of rising tensions with its neighbours and the United States.

Kim presided over a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Military Commission on Monday, encouraging the armed forces to achieve ever-greater victories and demonstrate unrivalled military strength to usher in a new era of development, according to the country's official Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday.

The members of the commission “discussed a series of tasks aimed at inducing a great change in the military, such as constantly expanding and intensifying operations and combat drills and more strictly perfecting war readiness,” according to the agency.

The meeting took place as signs emerged that North Korea is planning a massive military parade in Pyongyang to commemorate the Korean People's Army's 75th founding anniversary, which falls on Wednesday.

Kim may use the event to display the latest hardware from his expanding nuclear weapons and missile programme, which is causing concern among the US and its Asian allies.

The meeting's remarks are Pyongyang's latest warning that it is preparing to intensify its military demonstrations following a record-breaking year in missile testing.

The warnings are in part a reaction to the United States expanding military exercises with South Korea, which the allies say are aimed at countering the North's evolving threat.

North Korea threatened to respond to US military moves with the most powerful nuclear force possible last week, as it condemned US plans to expand its joint exercise with South Korea and deploy more advanced military assets such as bombers and aircraft carriers to the region.

North Korea launched more than 70 ballistic missiles in 2022, including potential nuclear-capable weapons aimed at South Korean targets or the US mainland.

It also carried out a series of launches that it described as simulated nuclear attacks on South Korean and US targets in response to increased US military drills with South Korea, which had been scaled back during the Trump administration.

Kim called for an exponential increase in the country's nuclear warheads, mass production of battlefield tactical nukes aimed at South Korea and the development of more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the American homeland during a major political conference in December.

Experts believe Kim's nuclear tests and threats are intended to force Washington to accept North Korea as a nuclear power, which Pyongyang sees as a way to negotiate economic and political concessions from a position of strength.

Diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang has been stalled since 2019, with the two sides disagreeing over US-led economic sanctions against the North as well as the North's nuclear programme.