North Korean leader Kim Jong Un enters the KPA anniversary event flanked by top military officials, February 9, 2026. (Photo: KCNA)

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un has said that the nation`s military is expected to "widen its fighting front" to defend effectively against the enemy.

Speaking on Sunday at an event marking the 78th anniversary of the creation of the Korean People`s Army (KPA) during a visit to the defense ministry, Kim said that North Korean forces were in store for major changes in 2026.

The North Korean leader emphasized that this year will be a year of "tremendous transformation" for the KPA as the fighting frontline will become wider and the demand for more strenuous efforts will increase.

"This year is a grand year of transformation, in which our military`s fighting front must widen further and we must struggle more boldly," Kim said, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reporting on Monday.

Kim said new weapons will allow the military to play an "outstanding" role in the coming years.

North Korean military capabilities are to be "further enhanced ... in the coming five years," Kim said, without further elaborating on the matter.

"The coming five years that will be indicated by the Ninth Congress of the Party will be years when our army`s outstanding role that no one else can perform will become further enhanced," he noted.

In his speech at the event, Kim also recognized soldiers still fighting alongside Russians in the war against the Western-backed Ukrainian forces.

He praised the country`s soldiers for "carrying out the order of their homeland in combat positions in the faraway alien land."

Kim had previously announced Pyongyang`s commitment to "unconditionally support" Moscow in fighting on the frontline against Ukraine and its Western backers.

His visit came ahead of the North`s key party congress set for late February, where Kim is expected to announce his major policies on the military, diplomacy, the economy, and other areas for the next five years.

In the Eighth Party Congress in 2021, North Korea unveiled a list of high-tech weapons that Kim vowed to develop, including military spy satellites, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, and a nuclear-powered submarine.