North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday said that his military should "thoroughly annihilate" the United States and South Korea if provoked, after he promised to boost national defence, including by launching three more spy satellites and building nuclear weapons in 2024, as part of "overwhelming" war readiness to cope with US-led confrontational moves.
According to the observers, Kim would finally hope to use his boosted nuclear capability to wrest greater outside concessions if there is a resumption of diplomacy. Experts say that Kim is likely to continue to escalate his warlike rhetoric and weapons tests again if former US President Donald Trump wins the presidential elections in November.
Addressing the five-day Worker’s Party meeting to decide the goals for next year, Kim said that he will launch three more military spy satellites, produce more nuclear materials and develop attack drones for an unprecedented confrontation with the US. He said that it is urgent to sharpen “the treasured sword” to safeguard national security, an apparent reference to his country’s nuclear weapons program.
Kim stressed that “our army should deal a deadly blow to thoroughly annihilate them by mobilizing all the toughest means and potentialities without moment’s hesitation” if they opt for military confrontation and provocations against North Korea, according to the state-led Korean Central News Agency.
Turning his focus on South Korea, Kim called the country "a hemiplegic malformation and colonial subordinate state” whose society is “tainted by Yankee culture”. He further remarked that his military must use all available means including nuclear weapons to “suppress the whole territory of South Korea” in the event of a conflict.
Relations with South Korea
In his New Year's address, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said that he will strengthen his military’s preemptive strike, missile defense and retaliatory capabilities in response to the threats by North Korea. "The Republic of Korea is building genuine, lasting peace through strength, not a submissive peace that is dependent on the goodwill of the adversary," he said.
This came after North Korean officials held talks on Monday to implement an order by Kim to disband or reform organizations handling relations with South Korea to fundamentally change the principle and direction of the North’s struggle against the South. It is unclear how this will impact inter-Korean relations.
Kim declared that North Korea will no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with the South, saying that the inter-Korean ties have become "a relationship between two hostile countries and two belligerents at war", CNN reported citing the KCNA.
“I believe that it is a mistake that we must no longer make to deal with the people who declare us as ‘the main enemy’ and seek only opportunities for ‘[our] regime collapse’ and ‘unification by absorption’ by collaborating for reconciliation and unification,” the North Korean leader added. The two countries have been separated since the end of the Korean War in 1953 which ended with an armistice.
Experts say small-scale military clashes between North and South Korea could happen this year along their heavily armed border. They say that North Korea is also expected to test-launch intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the mainland US and other major new weapons.
Growing ties with China and Russia
Since 2022, North Korea has conducted more than 100 missile tests, prompting the US and South Korea to expand their joint military exercises. North Korea has also tried to strengthen its relationships with China and Russia, which blocked efforts by the US and its partners in the UN Security Council to toughen UN sanctions on North Korea over its weapons tests.
KCNA said that Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged New Year’s Day messages on Monday on bolstering bilateral ties. North Korea faces suspicions of supplying conventional arms for Russia’s war in Ukraine in return for sophisticated Russian technologies to enhance the North’s military programs.
The US and South Korean governments have repeatedly warned that any attempt by North Korea to use nuclear weapons would result in the end of the Kim Jong Un government. The allies have also expanded their military training, which Kim views as a rehearsal for invasion.
North Korea has argued that it has been forced to develop nuclear weapons in the face of a possible invasion by the US and South Korea. In spite of its increasing threats to use such weapons, Pyongyang is still outgunned by the US and South Korean forces and is unlikely to use its nuclear arms first, even as it will continue to develop them.
(with inputs from AP)
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