North Korean is aiming for “strategic dominance over South Korean and US forces in the region” with leader Kim Jong Un showing no intention of abandoning his nuclear and long-range missile plans.

“[Kim] is continuing efforts to enhance North Korea’s nuclear and conventional capabilities targeting the United States and its allies, which will enable periodic aggressive actions to try to reshape the regional security environment in his favor,” the 2023 Annual Threat Assessment of the US said.

Pyongyang is “prioritiz[ing] efforts to build an increasingly capable missile force designed to evade US and regional missile defenses,” the report, released Wednesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, assessed.

The secretive regime “probably is preparing to test a nuclear device to further its stated military modernization goals,” it added.

Intelligence officials also highlighted that Russia and China as the top threats to the United States in the report and in testimony on Capitol Hill on Wednesday

Kim has moved closer to Beijing and Moscow in an effort to “secure North Korea’s position in what he perceives to be an international environment conducive to his brutal authoritarian system,” the ODNI report said.

Tensions have grown on the Korean Peninsula since nuclear negotiations between North Korea and the United States ended without an agreement at a February 2019 summit.

Pyongyang launched around 70 ballistic missiles last year and has continued with several weapons tests throughout the first months of 2023.

Over the past six months, North Korea has timed its launches to coincide with joint US-South Korea military drills, the threat assessment noted.

CURRENTPH NEWS SERVICE