• North Korea conducted two nuclear-capable rocket tests over the weekend.
• Kim Jong Un urges an “exponential buildup” in his nation’s nuclear arsenal.
• South Korea is a “undoubted enemy,” and the US is pressuring North Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is urging a “exponential buildup” in his nation’s nuclear arsenal in response to alleged threats from South Korea and the United States, according to Pyongyang’s state media.

Kim’s remarks came as North Korea conducted two nuclear-capable rocket tests over the weekend that it claimed could reach all of South Korea, according to a report from the News Agency .

Kim said South Korea has turned into a “undoubted enemy” and that its main ally, the US, has increased pressure on the North to the “maximum” level over the past year by frequently deploying its military assets to the Korean Peninsula.

He was speaking on New Year’s Eve on the final day of a six-day plenary session that reviewed 2022.

According to the report, in retaliation, Kim stated that Pyongyang must mass build tactical nuclear weapons in the upcoming year while also creating a new ICBM that would provide the North a “quick counterstrike capability.”

Kim’s remarks come at the conclusion of a year in which his country conducted more missile tests than ever before, including one with an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could theoretically target the US mainland.

North Korea fired at least three short-range ballistic missiles from a location south of Pyongyang on Saturday, the 37th day of its missile launches in 2022, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea.

That early Sunday, there was another test that came after. North Korea claimed that the 600mm multiple-launch rocket (MRL) system was tested on both Saturday and Sunday.

The majority of operational multiple-rocket launch systems are 300mm or smaller in size.

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