“It is worth noting that the January 2016 nuclear test demonstrated that North Korea has the ability to slow-roll test preparations relatively unnoticed and is able to conduct a new test with little or no warning”, the report said.
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Kim Jong Un is seeking to establish himself as more of a party man – in the vein of his grandfather, eternal leader Kim Il Sung – as opposed to his father, Kim Jong Il, who was seen as more focused on the military.
“The key is not whether such a strong North Korean deterrent force is a reality, not even whether Kim believes it, but whether he will set out this position as the philosophical basis for a new direction in policy”, said Robert Carlin, a visiting scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation in California.
North Korea has started welcoming delegates from around the country to its first ruling party congress in 36 years, state media reported on Tuesday, as rival South Korea expressed concern that Pyongyang could conduct a nuclear test before or during the event. Seoul says more than 29,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The ruling party’s official mouthpiece, the Rodong Sinmun daily, said the coming congress was a “sacred” event that would enshrine Kim’s achievements, from infrastructure projects to developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles. It is thought that Kim Jong-un will use the party congress to cement his leadership.
On Saturday, a Korean-Chinese pastor surnamed Han, who was reportedly active in helping defectors, was found dead in Jilin Province, near China’s border with North Korea, with knife wounds in his body, according to South Korean media Monday.
The alliance plan encompasses joint operations to detect, disrupt, destroy and defend against North Korea’s potential nuclear and missile attacks, including the option to launch a preemptive attack on key military facilities in the communist country. “Nominally, it’s for the party, but really this congress is for Kim”.
“Unlike Kim Jong Il, who had experience with partisan activities and the founding of the country, and who wore the halo of Kim Il Sung, who prepared him for his role as successor to the dictatorship, Kim Jong Un had a relatively short time to prepare”, the expert said. Considering the economic difficulties created by the United Nations sanctions against the country, Kim Jong Un’s unwavering commitment to nuclear development may falter.
“The real source of power in our country isn’t nuclear weapons or any other military means, but the single-minded unity of the people and the leader”, Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong told the AP in an interview last week.
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“The first thing is to advance the pace of economic building for a powerful nation”, he said.
