Kim Jong Un says North Korea aims to have world’s most powerful nuclear power plant

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country aims to have the world’s most powerful nuclear force as he promoted dozens of military officers involved in the recent launch of a new ballistic missile, state media reported on Sunday.

The announcement comes after Kim inspected a Nov. 18 test of the Hwasong-17, North Korea’s largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and vowed to counter what he called the US nuclear threats.

North Korea’s “ultimate goal is to possess the world’s strongest strategic military force, the absolute power unparalleled in this century,” Kim said in the officer promotion order, adding that building the country’s nuclear capabilities will Dignity and sovereignty of the country would reliably protect the state and the people.

He described the Hwasong-17 as the “world’s most powerful strategic weapon” and said it demonstrates North Korea’s determination and ability to eventually build the world’s most powerful army.

North Korean scientists have made a “wonderful leap forward in the development of technology for placing nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles” and were expected to expand and strengthen the country’s nuclear deterrent capabilities at an extraordinarily rapid pace, Kim was also quoted as saying.

Kim was featured in photos posing with scientists, engineers and military officials involved in the test.

According to state media, these workers pledged to defend the party’s and Kim’s “absolute authority” and vowed that “our missiles will fly vigorously only in the direction indicated by Kim.”

via REUTERS

via REUTERS

The launch of the Hwasong-17, which was able to reach the US mainland, prompted the United States to demand a statement from the President of the United Nations Security Council to hold North Korea accountable for its missile tests, which are banned by Security Council resolutions .

State media also showed Kim Jong Un’s daughter accompanying him as he checked on officers. Their unexpected first appearance at the Hwasong-17 Test has raised the prospect that leadership of the totalitarian state could pass to a fourth generation of Kims.

North Korea’s powerful Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly awarded the Hwasong-17 missile the title “Hero of the DPRK and Gold Star Medal and Order of the National Flag 1st Class,” state news agency KCNA reported in another statement, using the initials of the country’s official name: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“(The missile) has unequivocally proved before the world that the DPRK is a full-fledged nuclear power, capable of standing up to the nuclear supremacy of the US imperialists and fully demonstrating its might as the most powerful ICBM state,” said KCNA.