North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced new military targets to ruling Workers' Party officials, the state news agency reported on Wednesday, hinting that weapons tests would continue to be carried out. next year.

Kim Jong Un has "defined new key objectives for the strengthening of self-defense capability, which will be implemented in 2023", North Korea's official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday, without giving details.

The northern leader is currently chairing a major annual Party meeting in the capital Pyongyang, where he and other top party leaders outline their political goals for 2023 in key areas such as diplomacy, security and government. economy.

In his report, Kim Jong Un “analyzed and assessed the difficult new situation that has arisen on the Korean peninsula,” KCNA said, in an apparent reference to the recent escalation of tensions between the two Koreas.

He stressed "the direction of the fight against the enemy that our party should adhere to," KCNA added.

Nuclear-powered North Korea has carried out a record series of weapons tests this year, including the firing of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), continuing to defy United Nations sanctions.

On Monday, the South Korean army also announced that it had deployed fighter jets and helicopter gunships after the incursion into its territory of five North Korean drones, one of which had reached the airspace near Seoul. .

Year-end plenary meetings in North Korea usually allow the regime to unveil the country's priorities both domestically and abroad.

Full details of the current event are expected to be announced at the end of this week.

While Kim Jong Un focused on the national economy at the 2021 plenary meeting, analysts widely expect a shift in tone to emphasize the military domain this year.