North Korea to launch three new spy satellites, build more nuclear weapons in 2024

Mr. Kim’s comments, made during a key ruling Workers’ Party meeting to set state goals for next year, suggest he’ll continue a run of weapons tests to increase his leverage in future diplomacy ahead of the U.S. presidential elections in November next year.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said his country will launch three additional military spy satellites, build more nuclear weapons and introduce modern unmanned combat equipment in 2024, as he called for “overwhelming” war readiness to cope with U.S.-led confrontational moves, state media reported Sunday.

Mr. Kim’s comments, made during a key ruling Workers’ Party meeting to set state goals for next year, suggest he’ll continue a run of weapons tests to increase his leverage in future diplomacy ahead of the U.S. presidential elections in November next year. Observers say Mr. Kim could eventually offer to halt North Korea's testing activities and take other limited denuclearization steps in return for sanctions relief but he has no intentions of fully abandoning his advancing nuclear arsenal.

During the five-day meeting that ended Saturday, Mr. Kim said moves by the United States and its followers against North Korea have been unprecedented this year, pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

“The grave situation requires us to accelerate works to acquire overwhelming war response capabilities and thorough and perfect military readiness to suppress any types of provocations by the enemies at a stroke,” Mr. Kim said, according to KCNA.

Mr. Kim set forth plans to fire three more military spy satellites next year in addition to the country’s first reconnaissance satellite launched in November. He also ordered authorities to press ahead with work to manufacture more nuclear weapons and develop various types of modern unmanned combat equipment such as armed drones and powerful electronic warfare devices, KCNA said.

Mr. Kim has been focusing on modernizing his nuclear and missile arsenals since his high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with then-President Donald Trump broke down in 2019 due to wrangling over international sanctions on the North. Since last year, Mr. Kim’s military has test-fired more than 100 ballistic missiles, many of them nuclear-capable weapons targeting the mainland U.S. and South Korea, in violation of U.N. bans.

The United States and South Korea responded by expanding their military exercises and deploying U.S. strategic assets such as bombers, aircraft carriers and a nuclear-armored submarine. North Korea calls the moves U.S-.led invasion rehearsals.