UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ICBMs and ballistic missiles that can be armed with a nuclear warhead.

SEOUL

Strongman Kim Jong Un has said that North Korea’s “ultimate goal” is having the world’s strongest nuclear force.

State media on Sunday cited Kim as saying that building a nuclear force to protect North Korea and its people is “the greatest and most important revolutionary cause, and its ultimate goal is to possess the world’s most powerful strategic force, the absolute force unprecedented in the century.” Kim made the comments on Saturday as he promoted dozens of officials involved in the recent test of a “Hwasong-17,” a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which he referred to as “the world’s strongest strategic weapon.” The officials and scientists “made a wonderful leap forward in the development of the technology of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles,” demonstrating to the world “the firm resolution, decisive executive ability, great potentials and the confident, ever-victorious future of our state advancing towards the goal of building the world’s strongest army,” Kim said.

North Korea’s most recent launch of an ICBM earlier this month was met with international criticism.

Missiles with the capability to travel more than 5,500 kilometres are counted as ICBMs. UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ICBMs and other ballistic missiles that, depending on their design, can be armed with a nuclear warhead.

Nuclear-armed North Korea is currently testing missiles at an unusually high frequency. Observers fear that Pyongyang’s first nuclear test in years is imminent.

-Ranjith Perera-