North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hinted on Sunday that Pyongyang may ring in the new year with another bang — the test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. In his annual New Year's address, Kim said that after testing what the North claims was its first hydrogen bomb last year, preparations for launching an intercontinental ballistic missile have "reached the final stage" Kim did not explicitly say an ICBM test, which if successful would be a big step forward for the North, was imminent. But he has a birthday coming up on Jan. 8, and last year Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test on Jan. 6. Kim threatened in the address to boost his country's military capabilities further unless the US ends war games with rival South Korea. But he also said efforts must be made to defuse the possibility of another Korean war and stressed the importance of building the economy under a five-year plan announced in May. "The political and military position of socialism should be further cemented as an invincible fortress," Kim said, according to an outline of the speech carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. "We should resolutely smash the enemies' despicable and vicious moves to dampen the pure and ardent desire of the people for the party and estrange the people from it." The address was shown on television mixing video with Kim speaking and stretches of audio only, as still photos were broadcast. It was less than 30 minutes long. South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a statement that it "strongly condemns" Kim's threat to proceed with a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile and strengthen North Korea's nuclear-strike capabilities. — AP
