Kim Jong-un warns Korea ready for nuclear first strike if needed
KIM JONG-UN has said he might order a pre-emptive strike with nuclear weapons if he felt North Korea was threatened, a significant departure from his previous stance that his arsenal was only for deterrence and defence.
The North Korean leader also vowed to speed up the country’s nuclear weapons development, faced with stalled denuclearisation talks with the United States and a new, more conservative administration elected in South Korea.
Nuclear weapons “cannot be confined solely within the boundaries of preventing a war”, Mr Kim said yesterday at a military parade in Pyongyang, according to state news agency KCNA.
“If any forces try to violate the fundamental interests of our state, our nuclear forces will have to decisively accomplish its unexpected second mission,” he added.
Although Mr Kim did not elaborate on what the “second mission” would entail, experts say his speech signals a shift in his nuclear doctrine to allow for the possibility of a pre-emptive first strike against another country.
The parade marked the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army. The display included North Korea’s largest known intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-17, along with other weapons.
The regime tested the Hwasong-17 last month in the country’s first ICBM launch since 2017, drawing condemnation from the US, South Korea and Japan. This month, it also tested a new short-range missile that state media said was the first with a tactical nuclear weapons delivery role.
South Korean and US officials add that there have been signs of new construction at Punggye-ri, North Korea’s only known nuclear test site, which was officially shuttered in 2018.
The nuclear programme may have been defensive initially but now seems to have more aggressive aims, according to Andrei Lankov, a history professor at Kookmin University, Seoul.
He told the Financial Times: “They don’t really need intercontinental ballistic missiles [ICBMS],” he said. “And they don’t really need a thermonuclear device. This leads me strongly to suspect their ultimate dream is to assert control over South Korea.”
Analysts are now looking at the next flashpoint – the inauguration of Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea’s new president, on May 10. Mr Kim might take the opportunity to test nuclear weapons, South Korean officials have warned.
Mr Yoon said he would consider a possible pre-emptive strike if an attack from the North were imminent. The new South Korean leader has taken a more hawkish stance towards the North, abandoning the policies of his predecessor Moon Jae-in, who had relatively frequent exchanges with Kim.