opinion

2024 was a year in which radical successes were made in the effort to build the strongest national defence capacity in the DPRK.

Last year, Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, visited the Ministry of National Defence and the headquarters of the 2nd Corps and visited the training bases of the special operation units of the Korean People’s Army in the western region to give precious instructions on holding fast to a revolution in training, ideology and armaments. He also guided the shelling exercises of large combined units, a training match between large combined tankmen’s units, a drill of paratroop units and a combined tactical drill simulating a nuclear counterattack to make them important occasions to increase the actual war capacity and improve the posture for mobilization of the army.

The naval forces have been transformed into a powerful service group.

Guiding the test-fire of Padasuri-6 ground-to-sea missile to be furnished for the Navy and the test launch of the submarine-launched strategic cruise missile Pulhwasal-3-31, the General Secretary made sure that the country's coastlines and sea borders were reliably defended, that the Navy was armed with nuclear weapons and that the sphere of operation of the state nuclear deterrent was expanded in a diversified way. He also ushered in a new period of development of the shipbuilding industry and saw to it that a signal stride was made in implementing the Party’s line of increasing the power of the Navy while guiding the work to establish a modernized and multifunctional naval base on the spot.

The country’s defence industry took another leap forward.

While inspecting the munitions factories including a major factory producing military erector launchers, the General Secretary saw to it that the capabilities for self-defence and overwhelming nuclear war deterrent were continuously built up. And he personally guided the tests of different weapon systems, including the test launch of new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile, test-fire of shells of guided multiple rocket launchers, test-fire of tactical ballistic missile based on new guidance technology and performance test of various kinds of drones, to make sure that consecutive success in the tests of the ultra-modern strategic weapon systems demonstrated the boundless development of the national defence capabilities and a great leap forward in building a powerful and modern army.

As a result, there took place the ceremony for delivering new-type tactical ballistic missile systems to hand 250 new-type tactical ballistic missile erector launchers produced by major munitions enterprises over to the frontier units of the DPRK, which clearly showed the country’s good prospects of accomplishing the cause of building a powerful and modern army.

The test-fire of the latest ICBM Hwasongpho-19, which would perform its mission and duty as the primary core backbone means in defending the DPRK, thoroughly deterring acts of aggression and reliably defending the security of the state, was successfully conducted. While guiding the test-fire on the spot, the General Secretary made sure that the DPRK’s nuclear combat force developing by leaps and bounds displayed its absolute might and clearly demonstrated to the world that the dominant position the country secured in the development and manufacture of nuclear delivery means of the same kind is absolutely irreversible.

There took place the grand military hardware exhibition Defence Development-2024 which brought together the latest creations by the country’s group of defence scientists and technicians with the main emphasis on the strategic and tactical weapons which drew the attention of the world as they had undergone another round of upgrading and evolution in terms of modernity, advanced character and accuracy and might of strike and new types of them had been developed in succession

The exhibition demonstrated the grandiose development and bright prospects of the country’s defence capabilities.