North Korea raised alarm after leader Kim Jong Un and other officials discussed strengthening units facing South Korea and a “major military action plan” at a top–level military meeting in June. While state media reports did not directly mention nuclear weapons, experts say that enhancing “operational capabilities of the frontline units” could refer to the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons.

This came as Washington and Seoul continued to warn of a potentially imminent DPRK nuclear test, possibly for a smaller warhead to fit on the new “tactical guided weapon” Pyongyang tested in April.

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