SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged the country’s military to improve capabilities for fighting a war in a speech last week, state media KCNA said on Monday.

Kim delivered the speech to a conference of battalion commanders and political instructors held in Pyongyang on Friday.

Kim said the threatening nature of the U.S. and its allies including South Korea and their military confrontation with North Korea have brought tension on the Korean peninsula to “the worst phase in history,” calling for war preparations, KCNA said.

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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