OUR North Korean leader Kim Chen In called for increased production of “military nuclear materials” and more powerful weapons, state media reported today.

This latest threat, from Kim, who had previously called for an “exponential” increase in his country’s nuclear weapons production, came shortly before the arrival of US aircraft carriers in South Korea.

The North Korean leader said his country must be ready to use its nuclear weapons “anywhere, anytime,” according to the official KCNA news agency.

At the same time, he asked officials to “develop the production of military-grade nuclear material in the long term to implement the plan (…) for the exponential increase in nuclear arsenals.”

It also “encouraged the continued production of powerful nuclear weapons,” KCNA added.

When North Korea “improves” its nuclear weapons systems, “the enemy will fear us and will not dare to challenge the sovereignty of our nation, our system, and our people,” Kim said.

North Korea announced last year that its status as a nuclear power was “non-negotiable.” In early March, Kim asked the country’s armed forces to step up military training ahead of a “real war.”

Today, the North Korean military said it had conducted a second test of a “nuclear-powered underwater combat drone” after the first test last week.

The test of this new weapon, called “Khail”, which means “tsunami” in Korean, was carried out in response to the recent joint US-South Korean military exercises, the largest in the past five years.

The drone was submerged “for 41 hours and 27 minutes, covering 600 kilometers” before hitting a target in Hamgyong province early Monday morning, KCNA said.

At the same time, on the same day, the North Korean military carried out a simulated nuclear attack with tactical ballistic missiles.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP, Reuters.}