Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country was ready to mobilize its nuclear deterrent and counter any US military conflict, and for the first time criticized South Korea’s new president, warning that Seoul was on the verge of war. arriving at. Kim made the remarks on Thursday during a speech at an event to mark the 69th anniversary of the Korean War ceasefire on July 27, according to the official KCNA news agency, which left two Koreans technically still at war.
Kim said that since the 1950-53 war with the United States posed nuclear threats, the North needed to achieve the “immediate historic task” of bolstering its self-defense.
“Our armed forces are fully prepared to respond to any crisis, and our nation’s nuclear war deterrence is also fully prepared to mobilize its full force for its mission with integrity, precision and promptness,” he said. ” They said.
The speech came as officials in Seoul and Washington said Pyongyang had completed preparations to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.
South Korea’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that North Korea is likely to face stronger sanctions, including measures targeting its cyberattack capabilities, if it goes ahead with testing.
US continues ‘dangerous, illegal hostile acts’ with South Korea against North Korea
In the speech, Kim said Washington continues “dangerous, illegal hostile acts” with South Korea against the North, and seeks to justify its behavior by “demonising” the country.
The North has long accused the United States of double standards on military activity and a hostile policy toward Pyongyang, saying it would seek talks aimed at ending the country’s nuclear and missile programs in exchange for sanctions relief. hinders restarting.
“The United States Act of Duplicity, which is mislabeling all routine actions of our armed forces as ‘provocations’ and ‘threats’, while conducting large-scale joint military exercises that seriously endanger our security.” Let’s say, there’s literally a robbery,” Kim said. ,
“It is taking bilateral relations to the point where it is difficult to return to a state of conflict.”
Kim also slammed South Korea’s new conservative President Yoon Suk-yol for the first time, accusing him of endangering the North’s security and right to self-defense.
Kim singled out the campaign to bring back Seoul’s weapons development and US nuclear strategic assets as well as allied military exercises, calling the military activities of “war-men” and “disgusting thugs” confrontational in Yoon’s administration. are intent on
His “policy of heinous confrontation” and “frivolous, treacherous acts” toward the North are pushing the situation to the brink of war, he said.
North Korea has tested hypersonic missiles and missiles in recent months, which it says can carry strategic nuclear warheads, leaving Seoul to respond to a pending attack.
Yoon has vowed to complete the so-called “kill chain” system, which calls for preemptive strikes against the North’s missiles and possibly its leadership if an imminent attack is detected.
But that system will never be able to cover the North’s “full arms,” Kim said.
“If you think you can militarily counter us and neutralize or destroy part of our military power,” he said. “Such a dangerous attempt would be immediately punished by a mighty force, and Eun Suk-yol’s government and his army would be wiped out.”
A spokesman for Seoul’s Defense Ministry said it would continue to strengthen its capabilities and that the US had increased deterrence, including its nuclear umbrella, to better respond to Pyongyang’s threats.
Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul said Kim’s remarks were intended to highlight the legitimacy of weapons development and his “eye for eye” approach towards Washington and Seoul.