(Seoul) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for strengthened nuclear deterrence and warned that he would not hesitate to “annihilate” South Korea, the country’s “main enemy”, a state media reported. Status Wednesday.
Mr. Kim, accompanied by senior party and military officials, visited several munitions factories on Monday and Tuesday.
He declared on this occasion that Pyongyang’s priority must be to “strengthen military self-defense capabilities and nuclear deterrence first and foremost,” according to the official KCNA agency.
North Korea will not “unilaterally” trigger a conflict, said the North Korean number one according to KCNA, but also “does not intend to avoid a war”.
“If (South Korea) dares to attempt to use (its) armed forces against (North Korea) or threaten its sovereignty and security […] we will have no hesitation to annihilate (South Korea) by mobilizing all the means and forces” in our possession, warned Mr. Kim according to the official agency.
The two Koreas are still technically at war since the end of the conflict in 1953 which ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty. For more than 70 years, the peninsula has experienced alternating periods of heightened tensions and relative relaxation.
Their relationship is currently at its lowest point in decades.
Last year, North Korea enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its constitution and fired several intercontinental ballistic missiles, in violation of UN resolutions.
The United States, South Korea and Japan accuse Pyongyang of violating international sanctions by sending missiles to Russia, at war with Ukraine.