Closing Three Days Meeting Of Central Military Commission, North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un Orders Strengthening Defense Capability

JAKARTA - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the strengthening of defense capabilities, amid fears of Pyongyang's potential nuclear test, as he closed a meeting with senior military officials, state media said Friday.

The meeting was closely watched because of growing speculation Pyongyang could carry out its first nuclear test in five years, which US and South Korean officials say could take place "anytime" now.

Kim presided over the eighth three-day meeting of the Central Military Commission ending on Thursday, where top officials "examined and agreed on important issues in providing military guarantees to further strengthen the country's war deterrent," the official KCNA media said.

The KCNA report did not directly mention North Korea's nuclear or ballistic missile programs, but said Ri Pyong Chol, who has led North Korea's missile development, was elected vice chairman of the powerful Party's Central Military Commission.

"(Kim) stressed the need for the whole army to consolidate in all respects a strong self-defense capability to defeat enemy forces," KCNA said, citing Reuters, June 24.

During the meeting, North Korea rarely mentioned revising its war plans, saying it decided to increase the operational tasks of its frontline units with "an important military action plan."

State media on Thursday released a photo of a high-ranking North Korean official in a meeting with a map of the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.

Earlier in April, Kim called on the country's military to "increase their strength in every way to annihilate the enemy."

North Korea has tested an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles this year, including large intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), new hypersonic missiles, to short-range missiles potentially designed for tactical nuclear weapons.