N.Korea’s Kim convenes meeting to discuss defense policies

Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is meeting with his senior military officials to discuss national defense policies and continuing his arms buildup following a highly provocative run in ballistic missile testing this year that revived tensions with Washington and Seoul.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that Kim presided over a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission that began Tuesday to review defense work during the first half of 2022 and confirm “crucial and urgent tasks” to expand military capabilities and implement key defense policies. T

he report did not specify any plans or mention any critical remarks toward the United States or rival South Korea. U.S. and South Korean officials have said in recent months that the North could be preparing to conduct its first nuclear test explosion since 2017 as Kim escalates brinkmanship aimed at cementing the North’s status as a nuclear power and negotiating economic and security concessions from a position of strength.

KCNA said the commission’s members started discussing the agenda that was presented, indicating the meeting may continue for days. The members could discuss the progress in weapons development and plans to deploy some of the systems that were tested in recent months, including a purported hypersonic missile, a long-range cruise missile and the North’s newest intercontinental ballistic missile, said Cheong Seong- Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea’s private Sejong Institute. —AP