What is Kim Jong Un going to do in 2023?

North Koreans celebrate the English New Year in the capital, Pyongyang 2022 was a record-breaking year for North Korea. The country test-fired more missiles in just one year in 2022 than any other year. In fact, only a quarter of the missiles North Korea has fired so far managed to reach the skies last year. And just last year, Kim Jong-un announced that North Korea had become a nuclear-armed state and that the country would keep nuclear weapons in its arsenal. As a result, tensions on the Korean Peninsula have reached their highest point since 2017. At the time, then-US President Donald Trump had warned North Korea to "weaponize it".

Kim Jong Un

North Korea has made significant progress in achieving nuclear capability in 2022. Earlier in the year, the country tested a short-range missile - a missile capable of hitting South Korea. After that, they developed medium-range missiles targeting Japan.

Before the end of last year, North Korea successfully test-fired its most powerful interstate ballistic missile, the Hwasong-17. This missile, in theory, is capable of reaching anywhere on the American mainland.

"North Korea has become a nuclear power from which it cannot be turned back" - last September Mr. After making the announcement, Kim also said that these nuclear weapons are not only being developed to prevent war but will be used to win the war before the other side attacks or in case of a counterattack.

When the year is about to end, Mr. Kim summoned members of his ruling Workers' Party to the meeting and explained North Korea's goals for 2023.

At the top of his list is the goal of “massively increasing” nuclear weapons production. He said, among these, there must be relatively small and strategic nuclear weapons, which can be used in the fight against South Korea.

This is the most serious development, says nuclear weapons expert Ankit Panda, who works at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US-based international non-governmental research organization.

North Korea test-fired its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2022. Before developing strategic nuclear weapons, North Korea must develop small-scale nuclear bombs that can be mounted on small missile warheads.

Whether Pyongyang has the capability to produce such mini-bombs - the country is yet to provide the world with proof. The international community is watching whether North Korea conducts any such test in 2022. But no such test has been seen yet. But it is believed that it can happen this year ie in 2023.

Mr. in the new year. Other military equipment on Kim's innovation list includes intelligence satellites. He claimed that this satellite will be sent into Earth's orbit by the spring of this year. There are also more solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles, which will be launched at the United States and which will launch with less warning time than previous models. So we can pretty clearly imagine that the year 2023 will follow the trend of 2022 very much. That is, Pyongyang will pursue its nuclear program with an aggressive target and continue to expand and improve its nuclear arsenal in defiance of US sanctions.

In fact, less than three hours into the New Year, North Korea conducted its first nuclear missile test of the year. But Mr. "Most of the missile launches this year may not be just weapons tests," says Panda. They may be part of military exercises, as North Korea is now preparing to use its missiles in a possible conflict."

Wikipedia: List of states with nuclear weapons