Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - State media stated on Thursday that amid indications the North may perform its first nuclear test since ...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - State media stated on Thursday that amid indications the North may perform its first nuclear test since 2017, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his nation is prepared to mobilise its nuclear war deterrent and for any armed conflict with the United States.
According to the official KCNA news agency, Kim made the comments during a speech at a celebration to commemorate the 69th anniversary of the Korean War armistice on July 27, which officially left the two Koreas still at war.
According to Kim, the battle with the US presented a nuclear threat because it forced the North to complete a "urgent historical mission" of bolstering its self-defense.
Our nation's nuclear war deterrence is also fully equipped to mobilise its absolute strength truthfully, accurately, and speedily to its task, he added. "Our military forces are thoroughly prepared to respond to any crisis."
The declaration that Pyongyang has finished making preparations to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017 was made by Seoul and Washington officials prior to the speech.
Although a military official stated there were no imminent signals for it, South Korea's minister of unification in charge of inter-Korean affairs warned on Tuesday that there was a "possibility" of the test in time for the anniversary.
If the test is conducted, North Korea is likely to face further penalties, including measures to limit its ability to conduct cyberattacks, the foreign minister of South Korea said on Wednesday.
In the speech, Kim claimed that 70 years after the war, Washington still engages in "dangerous, illegal hostile acts" with South Korea against the North and tries to "demonise" the nation to support its actions.
The North has long accused the United States of applying different standards to military activities and of having a hostile foreign policy towards Pyongyang. They claim that this undermines efforts to restart negotiations aimed at ending the nation's nuclear and missile programmes in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
"The double act of the United States, which is misrepresenting all the regular acts of our armed forces as "provocation" and "threat," while performing huge joint military drills that significantly threaten our security, is essentially a theft," added Kim.
"That is putting bilateral relations in a state of conflict that makes it hard to reverse course."
Kim criticised the Yoon Suk-yeol government in South Korea, warning that any efforts to "annihilate" the North beforehand will be faced with a severe punishment.
Kim stated, "I would want to reiterate that North Korea is completely prepared for any military conflict with the United States.
North Korea has conducted tests of hypersonic and missiles that it claims are capable of carrying tactical nuclear warheads recently, which has reduced the amount of time Seoul would have to respond to an impending attack.
