North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for “more practical and offensive” capabilities and an expanded and strengthened “war deterrent” — a euphemism for his nuclear arsenal — while reviewing plans for front-line operations, the regime's state-run media reported Tuesday.

Kim’s remarks during a meeting of the Central Military Commission (CMC) involving front-line commanders a day earlier came as the North seeks “to cope with the escalating moves of the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet traitors to unleash a war of aggression,” according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

The nuclear-armed North has reacted angrily to a recent spate of joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea — some of the largest in five years — including what the North calls "decapitation drills" that the KCNA report said are designed to eliminate the Kim regime and bring “all-out war” to the country.