Kim made the remarks during a speech at an event marking the 69th anniversary of the July 27 Korean War armistice, which left the two Koreas technically still at war, the official KCNA news agency reported on Thursday. The standoff with the United States has posed nuclear threats since the 1950-53 war and required the North to meet an “urgent historical task” to strengthen its self-defense, Kim said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “Our armed forces are fully prepared to respond to any crisis, and our nation’s nuclear war deterrent is also fully prepared to mobilize its ultimate power faithfully, accurately and timely in its mission,” he said. Kim also denounced South Korea’s new conservative president Yun Suk-yeol by name for the first time, accusing him of threatening the North’s security and right to self-defense. Yun’s office expressed deep regret over Kim’s “threatening” comments, saying South Korea is capable of responding “vigorously and effectively” to any provocations at any time. “We once again urge North Korea to follow the path of dialogue to achieve meaningful denuclearization and peace,” Yun’s spokeswoman Kang In-sun said at a briefing. Kim’s speech came after officials in Seoul and Washington said Pyongyang had completed preparations to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017. South Korea’s unification minister who handles inter-Korean affairs said on Tuesday there was a “possibility” of the test around the armistice anniversary, although a military official said there was no immediate indication of that. North Korea is likely to face stronger sanctions, including measures targeting its cyber-attack capabilities, if it goes ahead with the test, South Korea’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. read more In the speech, Kim said Washington continues “dangerous, illegal hostile actions” against the North and seeks to justify its behavior by “demonizing” the country. The North has long accused the United States of double standards in military activities and pursuing a hostile policy toward Pyongyang, saying it is blocking the resumption of talks aimed at scrapping the country’s nuclear and missile programs with in exchange for leniency. “The two-pronged act of the United States, which misrepresents all routine actions of our armed forces as ‘provocation’ and ‘threat,’ while conducting large-scale joint military exercises that seriously threaten our security, is literally a robbery,” said Kim. . “This is driving bilateral relations to a point where it is difficult to turn back, into a state of conflict.”
‘ABSOLUTE WEAPON’
Kim also said “belligerents” and “disgusting thugs” in Yun’s government were pursuing confrontational military activities, singling out Seoul’s weapons developments and efforts to restore US nuclear strategic advantages as well as allied military exercises. Their “heinous confrontational policy” towards the North and “inelegant, treacherous acts” are pushing the situation to the brink of war, he said. North Korea in recent months has tested hypersonic missiles and missiles it says could routinely carry nuclear weapons, limiting the time Seoul would have to respond to a pending attack. Yoon has vowed to complete the so-called “Kill Chain” system that calls for pre-emptive strikes against the North’s missiles and possibly its leadership if an imminent attack is detected. But this system could never cover the North’s “ultimate weapon,” Kim said. “Such a dangerous attempt will be immediately punished by a powerful force, and Yoon Suk-yeol’s government and his army will be annihilated,” he said. Seoul’s defense ministry has said it will continue to strengthen its own capabilities and the US is expanding its deterrent, including its nuclear umbrella, to better respond to Pyongyang’s threats. Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Kim’s remarks appeared to be intended to emphasize legitimacy for the weapons developments and his “eye for an eye” approach to Washington and Seoul. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Soo-hyang Choi. Editing: Richard Pullin, Michael Perry and Tomasz Janowski Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
