— North Korean state media has reported that leader Kim Jong-un ordered the country’s military, munitions industry and nuclear weapons sector to accelerate war preparations at a year-end meeting on December 27, 2023, in response to what Kim says are unprecedented confrontational moves by the US.

On the same day, South Korea held a rare defence drill involving over a thousand security personnel, to guard against attacks by the North.

With North Korea's key party meeting underway leader Kim Jong-un has called for faster war preparations.
He's also believed to have laid out policies to strengthen cooperation with anti-U.S. countries.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday reportedly called for efforts to "speed up war preparations", on the second-day session of the regime's year-end key plenary meeting.
According to North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency, Kim "set forth the militant tasks for the People's Army and the munitions industry, nuclear weapons, and civil defense sectors to further accelerate the war preparations."

The KCNA also reported that the order comes amid the severe political and military situation on the Korean Peninsula,.. caused by "unprecedented" acts of confrontation from the U.S. and its followers.