API/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has threatened to use nuclear weapons “preemptively” against North Korea’s enemies (file photo taken September 2019).
NORTH KOREA – It is a recurring threat from Pyongyang’s side these days. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reiterated that Pyongyang may have a “preemptive” use of nuclear weapons to counter enemy forces, the country’s official media reported on Saturday (April 30).
In order to maintain “the absolute superiority” of North Korea’s armed forces, the country must be able to “contain and pre-emptively thwart all dangerous attempts and threats … if necessary,” the leader told senior officers, according to the official KCNA news agency.
Pyongyang must continue to expand its arsenal in order to have “overwhelming military power that no power in the world can provoke,” Kim Jong-un said. According to him, it is the “lifeline that guarantees the security of our country”.
staging
At an impressive military parade on April 25, he had asserted that he could fall back on the nuclear arsenal if North Korea’s “fundamental interests” were threatened.
Kim Jong-un reiterated the remarks during a meeting with senior officers whose work he wanted to pay tribute to during the April 25 military parade organized as part of the 90th anniversary of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army. On this occasion, the most powerful ICBMs were presented.
Despite strict international sanctions, North Korea is continuing to modernize its army. Since the beginning of the year, Pyongyang has carried out more than a dozen test shots and, in particular, launched a long-range ICBM for the first time since 2017.
No dialogue with the South possible?
The country continues to ignore Washington’s proposals to resume negotiations. The North Korean leader’s comments could be aimed at South Korea’s new president-elect, conservative Yoon Suk-yeol, who will take office on May 10, analysts say.
Yoon Suk-yeol has also promised to take tougher action in the face of provocations from the north. But analysts believe Kim Jong-un’s warnings show he is not open to dialogue with the new Seoul government.
“Kim Jong-un’s comments show that he does not want to engage with Yoon Suk-yeol’s new government or resume denuclearization talks with the United States,” said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha University Seoul.
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