By Joyce Lee and Heejin Kim
SEOUL, Feb 19 (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said new military and construction goals will be set during a key party congress this month, state media KCNA said on Thursday, as he played up progress in missile development incorporating AI technology.
Kim attended a ceremony on Wednesday to mark the presenting of 600mm-calibre multiple rocket launchers to the Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party. Fifty such launchers were presented by North Korean munitions workers, KCNA said.
The ceremony took place on the same day as a groundbreaking for a new construction project in the Hwasong District of Pyongyang, also attended by the leader.
Kim said the rocket launchers have “virtually no difference from a high-precision ballistic missile in terms of precision and power,” adding they are “appropriate for a special attack, that is, for accomplishing a strategic mission” and they incorporate “AI technology and compound guidance systems,” according to KCNA.
Kim’s mention of a “strategic mission” is seen as a reference to the launchers’ ability to carry out a nuclear attack, the Yonhap News Agency said.
PARTY CONGRESS SET TO START
Kim has been touting the progress of various projects ahead of this month’s Ninth Congress, the country’s biggest political gathering that reviews performance, sets new policy goals, and can bring leadership change.
“The Ninth Congress of our Party will declare the next phase of the self-reliant defence initiative and goal,” said Kim in a speech at the rocket launcher ceremony, according to KCNA.
“The project of constantly renewing our military capabilities that can strongly subdue any threats and challenges from outside forces will accelerate.”
The South Korean military is closely watching North Korea’s activities to develop weapons, a spokesperson for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Thursday.
The Ninth Congress may start as soon as Thursday or Friday this week, according to Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.
NO-FLY ZONE
In a separate KCNA report on Thursday, North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said she highly regards South Korea’s official expression of regret for sending drones into North Korea.
Kim said it would be to South Korea’s benefit to prevent the recurrence of such severe infringement of North Korea’s sovereignty, and that the North Korean military would take measures to strengthen vigilance on the border.
“The border with the enemy should be solid,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
South Korea’s defence ministry said on Wednesday it is reviewing a partial and unilateral restoration of a 2018 military agreement with North Korea by suspending some military activity along the border, including self-imposing a no-fly zone, through consultations with the United States.
Kim Yo Jong’s statement sends a message “clearly showing there is no place for an agreement based on ‘special relations’ such as the restoration of the… military agreement proposed by the South Korean government, only a harsh ‘border management’ system,” Hong, the analyst, said in a report.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Stephen Coates, Matthew Lewis and Ed Davies)
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