North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned again that he could use nuclear weapons in potential conflicts with South Korea and the US, as he accused them of provoking North Korea and raising animosities on the Korean Peninsula, state media reported yesterday.
Kim has issued threats to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively numerous times, but his latest warning came as experts said that North Korea could ramp up hostilities ahead of next month’s US presidential election.
In a Monday speech at a university named after him, the Kim Jong-un National Defense University, he said that North Korea “will without hesitation use all its attack capabilities against its enemies” if they attempt to use armed forces against North Korea, the Korean Central News Agency reported.
Photo: AFP / KCNA VIA KNS
“The use of nuclear weapons is not ruled out in this case,” he said.
Kim said North Korea’s nuclear response posture must be fully enhanced because South Korea and the US are pushing to beef up their military alliance based on joint nuclear and strategic planning, a move that he said would increase the danger of breaking the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula.
Kim was apparently referring to the South Korea-US deterrence guideline that the two nations signed in July to integrate South Korean conventional capabilities with US nuclear weapons to better deal with North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats. South Korea has no nuclear weapons.
Since adopting an aggressive nuclear doctrine in 2022, North Korea has repeatedly vowed to use nuclear weapons first if it perceives the leadership in Pyongyang as under threat, but many experts question if North Korea could really do so because its military is outgunned by the US and South Korean forces.
US and South Korean officials have warned that an attempt by North Korea to use nuclear weapons would result in the end of the Kim government.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have deepened, with North Korea unveiling a facility to produce weapons-grade uranium, a nuclear ingredient, and continuing a run of missile tests.
In responses to questions from The Associated Press, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said that North Korea’s disclosure of that nuclear site was likely an attempt to grab US attention ahead of next month’s presidential election, and that North Korea would likely stage major provocations such as a nuclear test and a long-range missile test.
Many analysts say North Korea would likely leverage its enlarged nuclear arsenal for US concessions such as sanctions relief after a new US administration is inaugurated.
North Korea earlier said its rubber-stamp parliament was to meet on Monday, but as of yesterday, state media had not said whether the parliament meeting began as scheduled.
Observers say the parliament meeting was likely meant to constitutionally declare a hostile “two-state” system on the Korean Peninsula to formally reject reconciliation with South Korea and codify new national borders.
Kim in January ordered the rewriting of the constitution to remove the long-running state goal of a peaceful Korean unification and cement South Korea as an “invariable principal enemy.”
All exchange and cooperation programs between the two Koreas remain dormant since a broader US-North Korea diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear program collapsed in 2019.
North Korea since May has floated thousands of trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea. South Korea’s military yesterday said that North Korea was again launching such balloons across the border.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS