MASS PRODUCE NUKES

But, Jong-un says Pyongyang is considering taking part in Winter Olympics

SEOUL and speed up their deployment,” said Kim in his annual address to the nation.

He reiterated his claims that North Korea had achieved its goal of becoming a nuclear state, but insisted its expansion of the weapons programme was a defensive measure.

“We should always keep readiness to take immediate nuclear counterattacks against the enemy’s scheme for a nuclear war.”

Pyongyang dramatically ramped up its efforts to become a nuclear power last year, despite a raft of international sanctions and increasingly bellicose rhetoric from the United States.

US President Donald Trump has responded to each test with his own amplified declarations, threatening to “totally destroy” Pyongyang and taunting Kim, saying the North Korean leader was on “a suicide mission”.

But, far from persuading Kim to give up his nuclear drive, analysts said Trump’s tough talk might have prompted the North Korean leader to push through with his dangerous quest.

“(The North) can cope with any kind of nuclear threats from the US and has a strong nuclear deterrence that is able to prevent the US from playing with fire,” Kim said.

“The nuclear button is always on my table. The US must realise this is not blackmail, but reality.”

Kim’s comments come after Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, warned that the Trump presidency had helped create “an incredibly dangerous climate”.

“We’re actually closer, in my view, to a nuclear war with North Korea and in that region than we have ever been,” he said.

But, Kim sugared his speech yesterday with a conciliatory tone towards Seoul, indicating that the North was considering taking part in the South’s Winter Olympics next month.

“(The Olympics) will serve as a good chance to display our Korean people’s grace toward the world and we sincerely hope the games will be a success,” Kim said, urging the South to cease its “nuclear war exercise” with the US.

At a time when the risk of a US pre-emptive strike is “higher than ever”, Koh Yu-Hwan, political science professor at Dongguk University, said Kim was using the Olympics gesture as a means to “shift from confrontation to peaceful co-existence with the United States”.

Observers said Washington must open talks with the North to defuse tensions.

But, Washington has long insisted that it will not accept a nuclear-armed North and Pyongyang must embark on a path towards denuclearisation before any talks. AFP