After disappearing for 36 days, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un resurfaced Tuesday and ordered his country to "prepare for war."
The order came during a meeting with military officials, during which Kim also "discussed in depth the major military and political tasks for 2023 and the long-term issues concerning the orientation for army building," the official Korean Central News Agency said in an English-language statement.
Officials also discussed ways to expand the army's operations and combat drills to "cope with the prevailing situation" and "more strictly perfect" its "preparedness for war," the KCNA said.
While the target of Kim's aggression is unclear, tensions have been rising between his country, rival South Korea and the United States after North Korea condemned the latter countries' joint military drills in the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea has vowed to "take the toughest reaction" to "the reckless military confrontational maneuvers and hostile acts of the U.S. and its vassal forces" that is threatening to turn the Korean Peninsula into a "huge war arsenal and a more critical war zone," according to the Associated Press.
Although Kim hasn't specifically mentioned the U.S., Pyongyang's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial Wednesday that North Korea's military is prepared to unleash a "super strong strike of unimaginable might to wipe out the origins of provocations without a trace" when facing enemy threats, the AP reported.
Last week, North Korea said it was prepared to counter U.S. military moves with the "most overwhelming nuclear force" as it warned that the expansion of the United States' military exercises with South Korea is pushing tensions to an "extreme red line," according to the AP report.
The statement followed comments by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that the U.S. would increase its deployment of advanced military assets to the Korean Peninsula, including fighter jets and aircraft carriers, as it strengthens joint training and operational planning with South Korea, per the AP.
North Korea launched around 70 ballistic missiles last year alone, the most in a single year, amid persistent speculation it may conduct a nuclear test in the near future, The Korea Herald reported.
Kim's nuclear push is aimed at forcing the U.S. to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power so it can negotiate badly needed economic concessions from a position of strength, experts tell the AP.
Kim's presence at Tuesday's meeting was his first public appearance in weeks, provoking speculation about his health, according to Fox News. His longest-ever break from public appearances was in 2014, when he was not seen for 40 days, the outlet added.
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