Kim Jong Un warns of 'nuclear attack' if 'provoked' with nukes
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Kim's warning follows a meeting between South Korea and the United States last week in Washington, where they discussed nuclear deterrence in the event of conflict with the DPRK.
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This undated picture released by the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 19, 2023, shows DPRK leader Kim Jong Un (L) and his daughter watching the test launch of a Hwasongpho-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at an undisclosed location in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
DPRK leader Kim Jong Un warned that Pyongyang will not hesitate to launch a nuclear attack if "provoked with nukes," state media said Thursday.
Kim's warning follows a meeting between South Korea and the United States last week in Washington, where they discussed nuclear deterrence in the event of conflict with the DPRK.
The meeting's agenda included "nuclear and strategic planning," and the allies reiterated that any nuclear attack by Pyongyang on the United States or South Korea would result in the end of Kim's regime.
Kim told his military's missile bureau "not to hesitate (launching) even a nuclear attack when the enemy provokes it with nukes," Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday.
Washington, Seoul and Tokyo released a statement shortly afterward, urging the DPRK to "stop conducting further provocations and accept our call for engaging in substantive dialogue without preconditions."
The three countries have ramped up security cooperation in the face of a record-breaking series of weapons tests by Pyongyang this year, and on Tuesday activated a system to share real-time data on the DPRK's missile launches.
The DPRK on Monday launched its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-18, later describing it as "a warning counter-measure" against what it described as persistent acts of "military threat" by Washington and its allies.
Last week, a US nuclear-powered submarine arrived in the South Korean port city of Busan, and on Wednesday, Washington flew its long-range bombers in drills with Seoul and Tokyo.
The DPRK has recently stressed that the "Korean peninsula is in a state of war by law" and that "strategic assets" deployed by Washington in the South will be "the first targets of destruction."
In October, when a US B-52 bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons took part in Seoul, Tokyo and Washington's first joint aerial drills, Pyongyang described the exercise as "the intentional nuclear war provocative moves of the US."
Pyongyang sees drills by the United States and its allies as rehearsals for invasion and has long justified its missile launches as necessary "countermeasures".
In a separate statement on Thursday, Kim Yo Jong, the Deputy Department Director of the Publicity and Information Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, slammed the United Nations Security Council for convening a session to discuss the DPRK's latest ICBM launch, arguing it was a demonstration of Pyongyang's inherent right to self-defense.
"The ceaseless military drills of the US and its vassal forces (remind) one of the overall preparations for invasion under the pretext of deterring threats from someone," she said, according to KCNA.
"And the frequent appearance of the US nuclear weapons clearly (aimed) at the DPRK ... is the root cause of escalating the regional situation," she added.
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