North Korean leader and his powerful sister have made a nuclear threat against the United States and South Korea, with both declaring that Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal will be practically deployed in retaliation to any actions that they consider to be “provocations.”
“We will not hesitate to launch a nuclear attack if provoked by nuclear weapons from our enemies,” the leader Kim Jong Un said, as cited by the North’s official Rodong Sinmun Thursday.
Speaking to soldiers who were responsible for its Monday intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch, Kim praised the test-launch as a “bold move” against the U.S. and its main allies – which he claimed as “the destroyer of peace and stability.”
The launch was a “clear demonstration of our nation’s assertive response strategy to retaliate without hesitation with a nuclear attack if provoked by nuclear weapons, and an explicit explanation of the evolution of our nuclear strategy and doctrine,” he said.
North Korea fired its latest solid-fuelled ICBM, the Hwasong-18, Monday, with the launch reaching a maximum apogee approximately 6,500 kilometers, flying a distance of around 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) before hitting its target off its eastern coast.
Although the Monday test was conducted at a high angle, it still represents a potential threat to the U.S. If launched at a lower trajectory, this missile may be capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
Separately, North Korean leader’s influential sister Kim Yo Jong also issued a sharp criticism against the U.S. and South Korea Thursday, targeting the allies for their coordinated actions during the United Nations meeting that took place Monday.
“It focused solely on condemning our self-defense actions, while neglecting the verbal and active provocations by the United States and South Korea, which directly provoked our response,” she said, as cited by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
“Hostile forces should contemplate how the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [North Korea] will perceive, categorize, and react to the upcoming military plans against us by the United States and the Republic of Korea [South Korea],” she added.
It is rare for Kim Jong Un and Kim Yo Jong to simultaneously make such threats. Typically, these statements of criticism come from either one or the other, but not both together on the same day.
Their remarks came as the U.S., South Korea and Japan conducted trilateral joint air drills off the southeastern coast of the Korean peninsula Wednesday. The drill included U.S.’s strategic asset, the supersonic B-1B, capable of carrying 57 tons of conventional armaments, according to the South’s Joint Chief of Staff.
North Korea has consistently protested the trilateral military exercises involving U.S. strategic assets near the Korean Peninsula, labeling them as “practice for invasion.” Pyongyang perceives these joint drills as a direct threat to its regime, especially given that its conventional military capabilities are significantly outmatched by those of the allied forces.
Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA.
By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA | Radio Free (2023-12-21T02:13:47+00:00) N Korean leader, powerful sister issue nuclear threat to US, S Korea. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2023/12/21/n-korean-leader-powerful-sister-issue-nuclear-threat-to-us-s-korea/
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