North Korean leader guides nuclear weaponization project, calls for expanding weapons-grade nuke materials

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North Korean leader guides nuclear weaponization project, calls for expanding weapons-grade nuke materials

Published: 28 Mar. 2023, 10:18 Updated: 28 Mar. 2023, 10:29

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un guides the country's nuclear weaponization project on Tuesday. [KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has guided the country's nuclear weaponization project, calling for expanding the production of weapons-grade nuclear materials for an exponential increase in its nuclear arsenal, Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday.

The North's leader called for "perfect" preparations for the use of nuclear weapons "anytime and anywhere," Monday, when he received a briefing by the Nuclear Weapons Institute, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim "called for efforts to expand the production of weapons-grade nuclear materials and continue to produce powerful nuclear weapons in a bid to meet the goal of an exponential increase in the nuclear arsenal," the KCNA said.

In a separate dispatch, the North said it conducted a firing drill simulating tactical nuclear attacks Monday.

It detonated a mock nuclear warhead 500 meters (0.31 mile) above a target islet off Kim Chaek in North Hamgyong Province, the KCNA said.

The report confirmed the firing of two short-range ballistic missiles by the North from the Chunghwa area south of Pyongyang on Monday. The missiles flew some 370 kilometers before landing in the East Sea, according to the South's military.

The North also said it again conducted a three-day test of a nuclear-capable underwater weapon system Saturday through Monday.

The Haiel-1-type "underwater nuclear attack drone" cruised along a saw blade and an elliptical course in the East Sea for 41 hours and 27 minutes, and its test warhead was detonated underwater Monday morning.

The North claimed Friday it had tested its new underwater nuclear attack drone capable of generating a "radioactive tsunami."

Yonhap