NORTH KOREA: Amid fears and rumours that North Korea may conduct its first nuclear test since 2017, the nation’s state-run media announced on Thursday that the supreme leader Kim Jong Un has declared that his nation is ready to attack the US with nuclear weapons as and when threatened.
According to a local news agency, the North Korean leader made the comments during a speech at a celebration to commemorate the 69th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice on July 27.
As per some reports, Kim mentioned that a confrontation with the US presented a nuclear danger because it forced the North to complete an “urgent historical task” of invigorating its self-defense.
“Our armed forces are thoroughly prepared to respond to any crisis, and our nation’s nuclear war deterrence is also fully ready to mobilize its absolute strength faithfully, accurately, and promptly to its mission,” he said.
Prior to Jong UN’s address, the declaration that Pyongyang had already made definite plans to conduct its first nuclear test in 2017 was made by South Korean and American officials.
Kim also added with conviction, “I once again make it clear that North Korea is fully ready for any military confrontation with the United States.”
In the address, Kim said that even 70 years after the war, the US still continues to engage in “dangerous, illegal hostile acts” with South Korea against the North and threatens to “demonise” the nation to support its actions.
The North claims that the US has a long history of displaying hypocrisy in military actions and having a hostile attitude towards Pyongyang, which is very eager to dismantle the nation’s peace. They also claim that this undermines any efforts to renew negotiations designed to curb the nation’s nuclear and missile programs in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
“The duplex act of the United States, which is misleading all the routine actions of our armed forces as ‘provocation’ and ‘threat’ while holding large-scale joint military exercises that seriously threaten our security, is literally a robbery,” Kim said.
“Such issues in the negotiations are leading to a likely case of armed conflict,” Kim added.
If the nuke test is ultimately conducted, then North Korea faces the counterattack sanction of limiting its ability to conduct cyberattacks, the foreign minister of South Korea warned on Wednesday.
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