Kim calls for bolstering nuclear, conventional weapons

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SEOUL — North Korea said Thursday that leader Kim Jong Un supervised successful tests of two types of missiles — one designed to carry a “super-large conventional warhead” and the other likely for a nuclear warhead, as he ordered officials to bolster up his country’s military capabilities to repel U.S.-led threats.

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The tests were apparent references to the multiple missile launches that neighboring countries said North Korea performed off its east coast on Wednesday, extending its run of weapons display as confrontations with the U.S. and South Korea escalate.

The official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim oversaw the launch of the country’s newly built Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5 ballistic missile tipped with a dummy “4.5-ton super-large conventional warhead.” It said the test-firing was meant to verify an ability to accurately hit a 320 kilometer (200 mile)-range target, suggesting it’s a weapon aimed at striking sites in South Korea.

KCNA said Kim also guided the launch of an improved “strategic” cruise missile, a word implying the weapons were developed to carry nuclear warheads.

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KCNA cited Kim as stressing the need to continue to “bolster up the nuclear force” and acquire “overwhelming offensive capability in the field of conventional weapons, too.”

“Only when we have strong power, can we contain and frustrate the enemies’ strategic misjudgment and will to use armed forces,” Kim said, according to KCNA.

North Korea has been pushing to introduce a variety of sophisticated weapons systems designed to attack both South Korea and the mainland U.S. to deal with what it calls its rivals’ intensifying security threats. Many foreign experts say North Korea would ultimately want to use its enlarged arsenal as leverage to win greater concessions in future dealings with the U.S.

Worries about North Korea deepened last week as it disclosed photos of a secretive facility built to enrich uranium for nuclear bombs. Since May, North Korea has also floated thousands of trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea, prompting the South to resume anti-North loudspeaker broadcasts at border areas.

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