North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for strengthening nuclear deterrence and warned that he would not hesitate to “destroy” South Korea, the country's “main enemy.” This was reported by state media.
Kim, accompanied by high-ranking party and army officials, visited several weapons and ammunition factories in the country and said on this occasion – reports the official state news agency KCNA – that Pyongyang's priority must be “first and foremost to strengthen and improve military self-defense capabilities strengthen”. nuclear deterrence. North Korea will not start a conflict “unilaterally,” said the North Korean number one, but “nor does it intend to avoid war.”
“If South Korea uses its armed forces against North Korea or threatens its sovereignty and security, we will not hesitate to destroy it.”
The two Koreas have technically still been at war since the end of the conflict in 1953, which ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. For more than 70 years, the peninsula has experienced alternating periods of intense tension and relative relaxation. Their relationship is currently at its lowest point in decades. Last year, North Korea enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its constitution and launched several intercontinental ballistic missiles in violation of UN resolutions. The United States, South Korea and Japan accuse Pyongyang of violating international sanctions by sending missiles to Russia, which is at war with Ukraine.
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