Kim Jong Un threatens North Korea’s enemies with “death blow”

A bullish Kim Jong Un toured North Korea’s top military institute on Wednesday and reaffirmed his goal of creating the “world’s strongest army,” state media said, amid sky high tensions with the United States and its allies.

Kim, 40, visited Kim Jong Il University of Military and Politics—named for his father—for the first time since it opened a decade ago, urging cadets at the elite academy to perfect the art of winning wars, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday.

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North Korea’s strongman leader described the global environment as one of “ever-escalating violence and armed conflicts,” and the regional situation around his country as “insecure and unstable,” the KCNA said.

“[N]ow is the time to be more thoroughly prepared for a war than ever before,” Kim was quoted as saying, adding that “the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] should be more firmly and perfectly prepared for a war.”

If North Korea’s enemy “opts for military confrontation,” Kim reportedly said, without naming any country, “the DPRK will deal a death blow to the enemy without hesitation by mobilizing all means in its possession.”

The KCNA report was published a day after South Korea held its general election, in which the main opposition Democratic Party won a landslide parliamentary majority over the conservative People Power Party of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Seoul accused Pyongyang of interfering in the vote with “provocations.”

KCNA photographs of Kim’s university tour showed him inspecting a raised-relief map of Seoul and aerial images of air bases used by American and South Korean forces.

He has discussed military plans in front of maps of South Korea on seven occasions in the last two years, according to the specialist website NK News.

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In the past few weeks, Kim has been photographed personally leading tank, artillery and paratrooper drills—all described by state media as defensive measures against the U.S.-South Korea alliance.

Kim also has kept up a steady streak of ballistic missile tests, largely ignoring the long list of U.N. Security Council sanctions levied on his government in the past decade.

Long-time observers say Kim is likely to continue as the United States heads into its own presidential election this fall, with a view to extracting concessions for his troubled economy.

Washington has accused Moscow and Beijing of offering Pyongyang political cover by vetoing further punitive measures at the Security Council. In addition, Russia is alleged to have received North Korean weapons for use in Ukraine in exchange for assisting in Kim’s burgeoning military satellite program.

Both North Korea and Russia have repeatedly denied trading arms, which would be a further violation of U.N. sanctions.

Kim may be on a war footing, analysts say, but he is not short of friends.

Zhao Leji, the Chinese Communist Party’s No. 3 official, was scheduled to arrive in Pyongyang on Thursday for a three-day visit to mark “China-DPRK Friendship Year,” according to the Foreign Ministry in Beijing.