Kim Jong-un has warned he would “launch a nuclear attack without hesitation” if provoked by his enemies, state media reported on Thursday.
The North Korean leader made the threat while talking to the military unit which successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Monday, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
Monday’s launch was “a clear explanation of the offensive counteraction mode and the evolution of the nuclear strategy and doctrine of the DPRK not to hesitate [to launch] even a nuclear attack when the enemy provoke it with nukes”, said Kim, according to the agency.
The United States, South Korea and Japan have been strengthening military co-operation and joint capabilities in response to the
unprecedented frequency of missile launches and other weapons tests by the Pyongyang regime this year, which include five ICBM firings.
South Korea and the US held their second Nuclear Consultative Group meeting last week, agreeing to establish guidelines on a joint nuclear strategy by the middle of next year and to conduct military drills stimulating a nuclear attack by the North.
The launch of the solid-fuel Hwasong-18 ICBM by the North this week was seen by observers as a reaction to that meeting. The missile reached an altitude of more than 6,500km and flew more than 1,000km, landing outside Japanese territorial waters. Japanese defence sources said that on a normal trajectory the missile could have flown more than 15,000km, putting the entire US in range. (my bold).
In a further sign that the threat from Kim’s regime is being taken seriously, Seoul, Washington and Tokyo said on Tuesday that they had activated a new shared system to detect and assess missile launches by the North.
The three countries also announced that they had approved a multi-year plan for trilateral military exercises.
Kim Yo-jong, sister of the North Korean leader, launched an angry response to a clash between representatives from the North and Russia and their US and South Korean counterparts at a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday over the ICBM launch. “The US and its vassal forces are persistently pushing the security environment on the Korean peninsula and in northeast Asia into a vortex of confrontation and conflict,” she said in a statement also carried by the official news agency. “Their intentional and premeditated military threats are anti-peace moves to squarely challenge the desire of mankind for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in northeast Asia and the rest of the world,” she added.