Kim Jong Un flaunts his intercontinental ballistic missiles as North Korea celebrates 90 years of independence. In a military parade, the leader showcased his most advanced weapons yet and vows to ramp up development. The ICBMs showed during the parade, experts say, can reach the US mainland.
Kim declared the country would “strengthen and build” its nuclear forces at the “fastest possible” rate as a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, numerous huge rocket launchers, and a submarine-launched ballistic missile was paraded through the streets of Pyongyang.
Any country or force that tried to confront North Korea militarily would “cease to exist,” Kim said as he described his nuclear forces as both a “symbol of national power and the basis of our military power.”
“True peace can be trusted and national dignity and national sovereignty can be guaranteed by the powerful self-defense force that can overcome the enemy,” Kim said in a statement released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
He said his nuclear force’s first mission was “to deter war,” but if anyone tried to “to take away the fundamental interests of our country, our nuclear force will have no choice but to carry out its second mission.” He did not elaborate on what that second mission would be.
North Korea claims to have successfully tested the missile in March, with a report in its state media at the time describing the launch as a “powerful nuclear war deterrent” and quoting Kim as saying the country was “fully ready” for any potential military confrontation with the United States.
The ICBM could, at least theoretically, put the entire US mainland in range of a North Korean nuclear warhead, but analysts say there are questions over whether the missile can deliver a nuclear payload on target.