Missiles instead of rice His people are starving, but Kim wants to arm himself further

Following new missile tests, North Korea's head of state Kim Jong-un announces a further expansion of his arsenal of weapons. Images of a uranium enrichment plant had been published shortly beforehand.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wants to arm himself further. Following new tests of two missiles, Kim emphasized that North Korea's nuclear forces must be strengthened, but also that its offensive capabilities in the field of conventional weapons must be expanded, the North Korean state news agency KCNA reported on Thursday. Only in this way could North Korea thwart the invasion intentions of its enemies.

According to KCNA, the newly built Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5 missile was tested on Wednesday, which was equipped with a mock-up warhead weighing 4.5 tons. The aim was to show that the missile could accurately hit a target 320 kilometers away - i.e. within range of targets in South Korea. Kim also supervised the test of an advanced "strategic" cruise missile, according to the report. The word "strategic" suggests that it could have been developed for a nuclear warhead.

Nuclear weapons stockpile to "increase exponentially"Kim Jong Un visits uranium enrichment plant

Convinced of accuracy

Kim has long been pushing for the development of new weapons systems that could be used to attack both South Korea and the US mainland.

KCNA published photos of a missile that hit a target on the ground. North Korea normally tests its missiles off its east coast and rarely fires them at targets on land. Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said that North Korea probably wanted to show that it was confident in the accuracy of its new missile.

North Koreans are suffering

Just last week, North Korea published photos of a secret facility for enriching uranium for nuclear weapons. However, it remained unclear whether this was located in North Korea's most important nuclear complex, Yongbyon, or whether it was a new, more advanced facility. According to KCNA, Kim called for increased efforts to produce "exponentially" more nuclear weapons during his visit there.

While Kim Jong-un is spending the country's resources on a state-of-the-art arsenal of weapons, the supply of sufficient food and other essential goods to the people of North Korea is still not guaranteed. There are repeated reports of people dying of hunger. Kim Jong-un himself called the situation in the country "terrible" in January.

Furthermore, repression in the country is on the rise. For example, anyone who views foreign content that deviates from the state line of ruler Kim Jong-un - especially documents or videos from South Korea - can be imprisoned for many years

dpa