“Leap made”: Kim Jong-un wants to make North Korea the strongest nuclear power in the world The United States must guide the peace process in Colombia

As state news agency KCNA reported Sunday, Kim described the country’s new ICBM as “the world’s most powerful strategic weapon” at a ceremony marking the latest missile tests on Saturday.

KCNA quoted Kim as saying that North Korean scientists had made a “marvelous leap forward in the development of technology for placing nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles.” At the ceremony, Kim honored more than 100 officials and scientists for their work on the Hwasong-17 ICBM, according to the report.

In one of the country’s most powerful missile tests to date, North Korea fired an ICBM last week, which Japanese sources say landed in the sea west of Hokkaido Island. The missile appeared to be North Korea’s latest ICBM with a potential range that could hit the US mainland. Experts call them “monster rockets”.

The emergence of nuclear power is “the greatest and most important revolutionary goal,” Kim told the KCNA. Leading officials and scientists have shown the world “Pyongyang’s goal to build the world’s strongest military,” he added.

During the photo shoot on Saturday, Kim called for “borderless strengthening of defense capabilities,” according to another KCNA report, and urged scientists and workers to “expand the country’s nuclear deterrent at an exceptionally rapid pace and to reinforce”.

The state newspaper “Rodong Sinmun” published more than a dozen photos of Kim during the photo session with his “beloved daughter”. The rulers of North Korea first presented them to the public at the launch of the ICBM.

Pyongyang has already fired more missiles this year than in any previous year. In November alone, there were probably 30 short-, medium- and long-range missiles. The internationally isolated country has been expanding its weapons program for years and is therefore subject to international sanctions. The UN Security Council has passed nearly a dozen resolutions since 2006 imposing sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear and missile activities. (sda/afp)