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.
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