After US peace overture, North Korean leader orders production of more missiles

Defiant North Korea led by headstrong leader Kim Jong UN has ordered the production of more solid-fuel rocket engines and rocket warhead tips in a move which may cause more tension between Washington and Pyongyang.

Kim’s order came not long after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to make a peace overture to Pyongyang, as he welcomed what he called the recent restraint shown by the reclusive North.

According to the North’s official KCNA news agency, Kim gave the order during his tour of the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defence Science.

Read also: Joint US, South Korea military drills will spark nuclear war, North Korea warns

“He instructed the institute to produce more solid-fuel rocket engines and rocket warhead tips by further expanding engine production process and the production capacity of rocket warhead tips and engine jets by carbon/carbon compound material,” KCNA said.

Days ago, North Korea warned that the recent military drills between the US and South Korea could lead to an “uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war.”

Both the US and South Korea are both engaged in war games to counter any potential threat from Pyongyang which sees such moves as provocative and hostile, perhaps even preparation for an invasion.

The war games, details of which are a closely guarded secret, simulate military conflict with the isolated country. The U.S. describes them as “defensive in nature,” a term North Korean state media has dismissed as a “deceptive mask”.

 

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