Kim called for his military to be constantly ready for combat to thwart plots to invade North Korea
North Korea leader Kim Jong-un has paraded his young daughter at his regime’s naval headquarters while calling for the military to be constantly ready for war.
During her first official public outing since May, Ju-ae, dressed in a formal white jacket with gold buttons, stood to attention with highly-decorated naval officers and her father, who was sporting a cream-coloured business suit.
The pair were also pictured inspecting the officers while walking along a red carpet.
Kim used the occasion marking the country’s Navy Day on Monday to lash out at the United States and South Korea for conducting “more frantic” naval drills near North Korean shores.
Last week, the two allies began their annual Ulchi Freedom military drills, which they insist are of a defensive nature but Pyongyang regularly calls a rehearsal for invasion.
Kim warned in a speech that the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been made unstable “with the danger of a nuclear war” because of US-led hostilities, said state newswire KCNA.
He also promised to extend his own forces’ capabilities, pledging that: “In the future, our navy will be a component of the state nuclear deterrent carrying out the strategic mission.”
The North Korean leader cited a recent historic US-South Korea-Japan summit, hosted by Joe Biden, the US president at Camp David, where the three countries agreed to start sharing real-time missile warning data and hold annual trilateral exercises and leaders’ meetings.
He also referred to the recent visit of a nuclear-capable US navy ballistic missile submarine in South Korea last month.
Tensions are continuing to spiral on the Korean Peninsula because of an unprecedented series of weapons tests by the North since early 2022 and the stepping up of US-South Korea joint military drills.
In its most recent known weapons test, Pyongyang tried, and failed, to launch a spy satellite last Thursday, in a move widely condemned by the international community.