Kim Jong-Un says North Korea will have world’s most powerful nuclear power

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said he aspires to the world’s most powerful nuclear power while celebrating the launch of his country’s newest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), state media reported on Sunday.

Kim also promoted more than 100 officials and scientists for their work on the Hwasong 17, which analysts call a “monster missile” and is believed to hit the United States continent within days of its test launch.

Kim hailed the new ICBM as “the world’s most powerful strategic weapon,” and said North Korean scientists had made “a marvelous step in the technological development of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles,” the official KCNA news agency reported.

“Building nuclear power to protect the dignity and sovereignty of the state and people is the “greatest and most important revolutionary cause, and its purpose is to have the strongest strategic power, absolute power unprecedented in a century,” Kim said at the ceremony.

Promoted officers and scientists showed the world “the goal of building the most powerful army in the world”.

In a separate report, KCNA said that the Hwasong 17 launch vehicle has been declared a “Hero of DPRK (North Korea)”. According to the agency, it “clearly demonstrated to the world that North Korea is a full-fledged nuclear power.”

Hong Min of the Korea National Unification Institute commented that the celebration of the launch of Hwasong 17 is aimed at elevating his country’s image as a nuclear power.

“If the 2017 Hwasong 15 focused on being the country that could threaten the US homeland with nuclear weapons, the new missile aims to make it the most powerful state with ballistic missiles,” he said.

Since 2006, the UN Security Council has passed several resolutions imposing sanctions on Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile activities.

KCNA said it called for “unlimited reinforcements of defensive power” during a photo session with officials and scientists involved in the missile launch on Saturday.

Kim urged scientists and workers to “expand and strengthen the nuclear deterrent at an extraordinarily rapid rate.”

The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper published several photos of Kim with his “beloved daughter” appearing for the first time in public photos during the ICBM launch last week. Until then, the state media had made no mention of Kim’s children. In fact, the week’s release was the first official confirmation that she has a daughter, according to experts.

In the footage, Ju Ae, believed to be Kim’s second daughter, is seen walking past the giant missile, wearing a black fur coat on her father’s arm.