BEIJING – North Korea has opened an exhibition of its latest weapons in Pyongyang, with leader Kim Jong Un vowing to counter “real and serious” U.S. threats by bolstering its military and technological development, state-run media said Sunday.
Kim said in the opening ceremony of the Defense Development-2025 on Saturday that the event “features the recent results of the important projects” the country has implemented to put the structure of its military capabilities on “an increasingly modern, advanced footing” with “its nuclear deterrent as the backbone.”
Photos released by the official Korean Central News Agency showed long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach the United States, cruise missiles, drones and armored motor vehicles among the weapons displayed.
The North Korean leader criticized the United States and South Korea for conducting various kinds of exercises to “execute dangerous scenarios according to the so-called nuclear operations guidelines,” KCNA said.
In response to the U.S. military’s arms buildup in South Korea, “our strategic concern about this region has also grown, and accordingly we have assigned our special assets to the major targets of our concern,” Kim said without elaborating. The assets are believed to indicate nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.
Pyongyang held a defense equipment exhibition for the third straight year. The latest display was held ahead of the 80th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea next Friday, when the country is expected to hold a large-scale military parade.
Military analysts are watching to see if North Korea will unveil at the parade the next-generation ICBM Hwasong-20 and the new “secret weapons,” which Kim referred to in late September.
BY: The Times Union
