By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-10-08 04:43:14 | Updated at 2024-10-08 06:42:41
2 hours ago
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned again that he could use nuclear weapons in potential conflicts with South Korea and the United States, as he said his country would speed up steps toward becoming a “military superpower”, state news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.
Kim has issued similar threats to use nuclear weapons preemptively numerous times, but his latest warning came as outside experts say North Korea could ramp up hostilities ahead of next month’s US presidential election.
In a speech on Monday at a university named after him, the Kim Jong-un University of National Defence, he said that North Korea “will without hesitation use all its attack capabilities against its enemies” if they attempt to use armed forces against the country, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
“The use of nuclear weapons is not ruled out in this case,” he said.
Kim also mentioned South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol by name for the second time in a week in denouncing Seoul for colluding with Washington to destabilise the region to gloss over the fact it does not even have proper strategic weapons.
“Yoon Suk-yeol made some tasteless and vulgar comment about the end of the [North Korean] republic in his speech, and it shows he is totally consumed by his blind faith in his master’s strength,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying, referring to the South’s alliance with the US.
