N Korea warns US and Seoul

‘WE ARE READY TO MOBILISE NUKE DETERRENT’

Pyongyang readies for seventh nuclear test.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country was “ready to mobilise” its nuclear deterrent in any future military clash with the United States and South Korea, state media said yesterday.

Washington and Seoul have repeatedly warned that Pyongyang is preparing to carry out its seventh nuclear test – a move that the US has warned would provoke a “swift and forceful” response.

In Kim’s latest speech to mark the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War, known as “Victory Day” in the North, he said the country’s armed forces were “thoroughly prepared” for any crisis.

“Our country’s nuclear war deterrent is also ready to mobilise its absolute power faithfully, accurately and promptly in accordance with its mission,” Kim said, according to Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency.

Speaking to war veterans on the 69th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, Kim emphasised the country’s “thorough readiness” to “deal with any military clash with the US”.

His latest threats come as South Korea and the US move to ramp up joint military exercises, which have always infuriated the North as Pyongyang considers them rehearsals for invasion.

This week, the US held live-fire drills using its advanced Apache helicopters stationed in the South for the first time since 2019.

Kim also slammed South Korea’s new, hawkish president Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May and has vowed to take a tougher stance against Pyongyang, which includes a plan to mobilise a preemptive strike capability.

“Talking about military action against our nation, which possess absolute weapons that they fear the most, is preposterous and is very dangerous self-destructive action,” Kim said of the Yoon administration, which he branded a group of “gangsters”.

“Such a dangerous attempt will be immediately punished by our powerful strength and the Yoon Suk-yeol government and his military will be annihilated.”

The North has carried out a record-breaking blitz of sanctions-busting weapons tests this year, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range for the first time since 2017.

Nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington have been stalled since a summit between Kim and then-US president Donald Trump in February 2019 broke down. The Kim regime has since rejected offers to resume talks, claiming the US must first drop its “hostile” policies. –