North Korea Vows Faster Nuclear Build After Iron Mace — SkimNews
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- North Korea said on Nov. 2 that the US-South Korea "Iron Mace" exercise was a nuclear war rehearsal targeting the country and vowed to accelerate efforts to strengthen its nuclear deterrent, according to state media KCNA.
- Kim Jong Sik, a deputy department director in the ruling Workers' Party, said the joint exercises showed North Korea must bolster its nuclear forces at a faster pace, describing Washington's aim as "wild ambition to stifle North Korea with nukes" and the threats as "escalating with each passing day."
- Iron Mace ran from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 as an exercise integrating US nuclear capabilities with South Korean conventional forces, according to Seoul's military.
- Yang Moo-jin, professor emeritus at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Kim Jong Sik's role could be expanding beyond missile development and production into nuclear and missile policy, noting it was unusual for such an official to set out national nuclear policy — a role more commonly taken by the defence or foreign ministry.
- North Korea threatened to resume loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts toward South Korea by the end of October following a September border mine explosion.
- South Korea said on Nov. 2 that its military had found no confirmed indications yet that Pyongyang had followed through on the end-of-October loudspeaker threat.
Why it matters: Kim Jong Sik's Nov. 2 statement put nuclear-force acceleration in the mouth of a missile-development official rather than the defence or foreign ministry, unusual enough that analysts see his remit widening into nuclear policy. After the Sept. 29-Oct. 2 Iron Mace drill, Seoul faces an explicit North Korean drive to build nuclear forces faster.
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