North Korea’s Kim Jong Un threatens to destroy the South with nuclear weapons if provoked

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the training base of the special operations armed forces of the Korea’s Army, at an undisclosed location, in North Korea, in this handout picture released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on October 4, 2024. KCNA/Reuters
Published October 4, 2024
Seoul, South Korea CNN — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to use nuclear weapons to destroy South Korea if attacked, state media reported Friday, after South Korea’s president warned that if the North used nuclear weapons it would “face the end of its regime.”

The fiery rhetoric isn’t new, but comes at a time of tension on the Korean Peninsula and just weeks after North Korean state media released images of Kim visiting a uranium enrichment facility, which produces weapons-grade nuclear materials.

While touring an army base in the western part of the country Wednesday, Kim said if the South were to encroach upon the North’s sovereignty, Pyongyang “would use without hesitation all the offensive forces it has possessed, including nuclear weapons,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.

“If such situation comes, the permanent existence of Seoul and the Republic of Korea would be impossible,” Kim added, using the proper name for South Korea.

Hostilities between the two Korean leaders have been simmering this year as North Korea has appeared to have intensified its nuclear production efforts and strengthened ties with Russia, deepening widespread concern in the West over the isolated nation’s direction.

Kim’s comments appeared to come in direct response to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who on Tuesday showcased Seoul’s most powerful ballistic missile and other weapons designed to deter North Korean threats during a parade for Armed Forces Day.

North and South Korea have been cut off from each other since the end of the Korean War in 1953, which concluded with an armistice not a peace treaty, leaving the two sides still technically at war.

 

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SOURCE: www.edition.cnn.com

RELATED: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un threatens to use nukes if attacked

North Korea President Kim Jong Un
Published October 4, 2024

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country would use nuclear weapons “without hesitation” if attacked by the South and ally the United States, state media reported Friday.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in decades, with Seoul this week staging a military parade where it showcased its bunker-busting “monster” missile and President Yoon Suk Yeol warned Kim that using nukes would mean the end of his regime.

Pyongyang has also been bombarding the South with balloons carrying bags of trash, and a fresh flurry was seen floating over Seoul early Friday by AFP reporters. Seoul’s military confirmed it had detected the balloon launches overnight.

If an enemy’s forces were “encroaching upon the sovereignty” of the North, Pyongyang would “use without hesitation all the offensive forces it has possessed, including nuclear weapons,” Kim said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

 

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SOURCE: www.theeconomictmes.com