DPRK holds key meeting to review defense strategies amid provocations

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Websites
17 Jun 2023 22:46
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Kim Jong Un attends the summit to discuss the country's defense tactics and economy.

Kim Jong Un speaks during a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party at its headquarters in Pyongyang, DPRK, on Sunday, February 26, 2023. (AP)

According to official media, DPRK launched an important political summit with leader Kim Jong Un in attendance to discuss strengthening the country's economy and evaluating security measures in light of the US provocative step of sending nuclear submarines to South Korea.

The US deployed the nuclear-powered guided missile submarine USS Michigan (SSGN 727) in Busan, South Korea, on Friday, further aggravating tensions in the Korean peninsula.

This marks the first stop in 6 years of a submarine of the SSGN class in South Korea, according to the country's military. This comes in line with the declaration signed by the US and South Korean presidents back in April, in which Washington pledged to utilize all its capabilities, including nuclear ones, to "protect" Seoul.

The US and South Korea have undertaken large-scale joint military drills since March, simulating large-scale bombing and invasion campaigns against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked individually with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, underlining the significance of "sustained... trilateral cooperation" ahead of his trip to China, according to the State Department.

Blinken informed South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Friday of the US' "ironclad commitment" to South Korea's defense, according to State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Blinken echoed the "ironclad commitment" to defense to Japan's Minister for Foreign Affairs Hayashi Yoshimasa Saturday and "condemned the DPRK’s continued unlawful ballistic missile launches into the Sea of Japan."

According to DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency, party leaders evaluated the country's economic campaigns for the first half of 2023, as well as addressed foreign policy and defense plans to "cope with the changed international situation" on Friday.

The KCNA made no note of what was discussed or any comments made by Kim. It was stated that the meeting will go at least another day.

The US and South Korean navies are planning to conduct exercises focused on sharpening their special operation and joint combat capabilities.

Pyongyang has condemned the allies’ combined exercises as invasion rehearsals. DPRK has used the expanding US-South Korean drills as a pretext to ramp up its own weapons demonstrations, including test-firing about 100 missiles since the start of 2022.