North Korea Celebrates Second Day of ICBM Launches: "Strongest on the Planet, Nuclear Power to Confront the US"

Rodong Sinmun Attributes Meaning to 'Historic March'
"Nuclear Force for Future Generations... Nuclear for Nuclear"

North Korea, Hwasong-17 Test Launch [Image Source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] North Korea celebrated the success of the 'Hwasong-17' intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test launch carried out two days ago, boasting that they possess the planet's most powerful ICBM. They particularly emphasized the launch's capability to reach across the entire United States, repeatedly expressing their determination to 'strengthen nuclear forces.'

The Workers' Party organ, Rodong Sinmun, stated on the front page on the 20th under the headline "Solemn Declaration of the Workers' Party of Korea" that regarding this ICBM launch, "As long as the United States' hostile policy and nuclear threats against Korea are not fundamentally eliminated, we will not retreat an inch from the path of strengthening our nuclear forces under any circumstances. The more the hostile forces' desperate struggles and offensives intensify, the more the qualitative and quantitative strengthening of our self-defensive nuclear forces will accelerate, demonstrating the iron conviction of the Workers' Party of Korea in this historic event."

It continued, "The country possessing the planet's most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile? the weight carried by this phrase is truly immense," emphasizing, "It is a thrilling title that clearly proves to the world that the nuclear first-strike capability is not monopolized by the United States, and that our state is a genuine nuclear power with substantial strength to confront the U.S. nuclear hegemony."

This can be read as an intention not only to use nuclear weapons for 'war deterrence' but also to carry out a preemptive strike if necessary.

In particular, it stated, "For the bright smiles and beautiful dreams of our future generations, we will continue to strengthen nuclear weapons, the powerful swords protecting peace, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and dedicate our patriotic hearts wholeheartedly on this path," reiterating, "Nuclear for nuclear, direct confrontation for direct confrontation."

Some experts interpret that Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party, bringing his young daughter to the ICBM launch site was also an internal message conveying that "nuclear weapons are the security of future generations."

The newspaper said, "There is something we deeply engrave again from the reckless nuclear war exercises carried out by the United States and its followers targeting our republic today," stressing, "It is the conviction of how just the path we have chosen is, and how right the path of strengthening self-defensive nuclear deterrence, which we have walked tightening our belts and shedding blood and sweat, has been."

This is interpreted as an argument that the responsibility for the rising military tensions around the Korean Peninsula lies with the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises, and that North Korea's nuclear weapons advancement is a self-defensive measure in response.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.