North Korea says will become 'most powerful' nuclear and military state

In a challenge to the global order, North Korea has issued a threat that it will become "world's most powerful nuclear and military state".

Pyongyang's assertion of ambitions to global supremacy came on Friday after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council, "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is the most tense and dangerous peace and security issue in the world today."

Pyongyang "will march forward and make great advancement victoriously as world's most powerful nuclear and military state upholding the line on simultaneous development of the Two Fronts," North Korea's Permanent Representative Ja Song-nam told the Security Council during a session on the threat from his country's nuclear and missile programmes.

The mention of "Two Fronts" is a reference to North Korea's theory of simultaneously developing its military capabilities, as well as its economy, which are both vulnerable to international sanctions.

With the characteristic bombast of his country's rhetoric, Ja dismissed the Council as "tool" of the US, which he said is "terrified by the incredible might of our republic".

He described the latest North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile test on November 29 as the "Great November Event" leading to "completing the state nuclear force" and "building a rocket power".
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Kim Jong-un's right-hand man killed by North Korean death squad: Reports

Hwang Pyong-so, a key member of Kim Jong-un's inner circle and touted as a powerful military figure, has mysteriously vanished from public life.

The vice marshal, who held the most senior position in North Korea's military, hasn't been seen in public since October 13.

This has subsequently sparked rumours that he was executed by a North Korean death squad after allegations of bribery, the local media reported.

According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's spy agency reported Hwang and his deputy, Kim Won-hong, were expelled from the military's General Politico Bureau and "punished." The agency added it was looking into details about their punishment.

The news agency reported that Kim Won-hong was sentenced to one of North Korea's prison camps. As for Hwang, reports said that Jong-un has indeed killed him.

Kim has previously killed his enemies via a variety of gruesome methods, including shooting them with anti-aircraft weaponry at a close distance and feeding them to a pack of ravenous dogs.
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