DPRK’s Will to Strengthen National Defence Capability

Proceeding from sheer desire to ensure peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the rest of the world, the Workers’ Party of Korea has made well-meant efforts and displayed the greatest patience to prevent the aggravation of the regional tension. But the intensity of the hostile forces’ policies towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has gone to the extreme, instead of becoming weakened. The enemy’s high-tech weapons aimed at the DPRK are increasing in volume.

To cope with this, the WPK, at its recent 8^th congress, solemnly declared that it would steadily bolster the national defence capability.

Along with major tasks for preparing the Korean People’s Army more firmly, it set forth the core plan and strategic tasks of crucial importance in rapidly developing and strengthening the national defence industry. In order to thoroughly contain, control and handle on its own initiative various military threats on the Korean peninsula, which are inevitably accompanied by nuclear threats, it decided to raise the nuclear technology to a higher level, make nuclear weapons smaller and lighter for more tactical uses, develops various tactical nuclear weapons and continuously push ahead with the production of super-sized nuclear warheads.

It also set a goal of attaining an advanced capability for making a preemptive and retaliatory nuclear strike by further raising the rate of precision good enough to strike and annihilate any strategic targets within the range of 15 000 kilometres with pinpoint accuracy. And it brought up the tasks to develop and introduce hypersonic gliding flight warheads in a short period, push ahead with the development of solid-fueled inter-continental underwater and ground ballistic rockets as scheduled, and possess a nuclear submarine and an underwater-launched nuclear strategic weapon.

It also decided to secure the ability of reconnaissance and information gathering through the operation of a military reconnaissance satellite, and conduct in real earnest the research to develop reconnaissance drones and other means of reconnaissance capable of precisely reconnoitring up to 500 km deep into the front.

It defined it as the main task facing the sector of defence science at present to rapidly advance the Korean People’s Army from the conventional type into an elite hi-tech one by drastically developing the defence science and technology and inventing a larger number of advanced weapons and combat equipment. It set it as the priority target of the munitions industry to make military equipment intelligent, precise, unmanned, highly-performing and light and decided to orient research and development to this end.

It also advanced the tasks for completing the preparations for all-people resistance, the matter of crucial importance that should never be neglected in firmly consolidating the national defence capability.

The major tasks for strengthening the national defence capability set forth at the Eighth Congress of the WPK are an expression of its unshakable faith and will to continuously strengthen the country’s military capabilities until the vicious cycle of the brink of war and detente, tension and dialogue is removed once and for all and such words as threat and blackmail by the hostile forces disappear on this land, considering the situation in which the international balance of power is crumbling owing to the reckless arms buildup of the US and other hostile forces.