Kim Jong-Un readies North Korea nuclear arsenal for pre-emptive strike

Leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered North Korea’s nuclear arsenal to be ready for a pre-emptive strike. He said his country should “bolster up (its) nuclear force both in quality and quantity” and stressed “the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defence always on standby so as to be fired any moment”. Kim added: "Now is the time for us to convert our mode of military counteraction toward the enemies into a pre-emptive attack one in every aspect.“ His remarks were an expected ramping up of rhetoric following the UN Security Council’s adoption of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang.

At an extreme time when the Americans… are urging war and disaster on other countries and people, the only way to defend our sovereignty and right to live is to bolster our nuclear capability.

Kim Jong-Un

Kim made his comments while monitoring the test firing of a new, high-calibre multiple rocket launcher on Thursday. While the North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system. On Thursday, South Korea’s defence ministry said the North launched several projectiles off its coast into the sea, up to 150 km (90 miles) away in an apparent response to the U.N. sanctions.

North Korea