Kim orders North Korean army to train as world's 'strongest' military
- Kim Jong Un told company commanders in Pyongyang to build the world's strongest armed forces, state media said.
- The two-day meeting came as South Korea proposed military talks after a blast in the Demilitarised Zone.
- Pyongyang has not responded to Seoul's proposal and rejected an earlier demand for an apology.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told his army to train itself into the strongest military in the world, according to state media reports on Saturday.
Kim gave the order at a two-day meeting of company commanders in Pyongyang held on Thursday and Friday. The official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said he described the push as a "Korean-style military revolution".
According to KCNA, Kim said the gathering was meant to develop a plan "to train the strongest armed forces in the world". He also called for every company in the army to become "a strong elite unit in military and technical aspects and consolidated into perfect combat forces".
KCNA said it was the first time the "entire army" had met since a party congress in February, where Kim pushed for stronger conventional forces and restated plans to develop nuclear weapons and missiles.
Border tension with the South
The meeting came in the same week that South Korea's military proposed talks with the North to clarify their shared border and restore communication lines.
Seoul made the offer on Friday after an explosion inside the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) injured South Korean soldiers. Seoul blamed North Korean landmines for the blast; Pyongyang strongly rejected the claim.
The North had already turned down Seoul's demand for an apology over the explosion, and it has not yet responded to Friday's proposal for talks.
The two Koreas remain technically at war. The 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty, so no formal peace has ever been signed.
North Korea has tested several weapons in recent months, including what it called a "new-type" precision-guided torpedo system and an intermediate-range hypersonic missile. Both were said to use artificial intelligence technology.
Despite years of United Nations sanctions, the North has written its status as a nuclear-armed state into law. Its government has repeatedly said its atomic arsenal is permanent and irreversible.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, North Korea has also become a close ally of Moscow, sending troops to support the war in return for economic benefits and military technology.
What happens next
All eyes will be on whether Pyongyang answers Seoul's offer of military talks. A positive reply could reopen communication channels and ease tension along the DMZ. Silence would leave the border dispute unresolved, with both armies on alert.
