N. Korea approves new front-line army duties amid tensions

24/6/2022 18:55

        North Korean leader Kim Jong Un doubled down on his nuclear arms buildup to overwhelm "hostile forces" at a key meeting where military leaders approved unspecified new operational duties for front-line army units.
        
        Members of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Military Commission decided to supplement an "important military action plan" on the duties of front-line troops and further strengthen the country's nuclear war deterrent, state media said Friday.
        
        North Korea hasn't specified the new operational duties for front-line army units, but analysts say the country could be planning to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons targeting rival South Korea along their tense border.
        
        While North Korea's pursuit of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that could reach the U.S. mainland gets much of the international attention, it is also developing a variety of nuclear-capable, short-range missiles that can target South Korea. Experts say its rhetoric around those missiles communicates a threat to proactively use them in warfare to blunt the stronger conventional forces of South Korea and the United States. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in the South to deter aggression from the North.