North Korean leader echoes earlier bellicose rhetoric after promising to launch new satellites and further expand arsenal
\nSeoul
\nNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his military to \u201cthoroughly annihilate\u201d South Korea and the United States if they initiate a military confrontation in another round of bellicose rhetoric targeting Seoul and Washington.
\nThe two allies ramped up military and political cooperation in 2023 as North Korea conducted a record number of weapons tests, including of a new solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and put its first spy satellite into orbit.
\nAt a meeting with North Korea\u2019s top commanding officers in Pyongyang on New Year\u2019s Eve, Kim said his military should \u201cannihilate\u201d the enemy if provoked, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday.
\nKim has already indicated he plans to put three more satellites into space and further develop his country\u2019s weapons arsenal this year.
\n\u201cIf the enemy opts for military confrontation and provocation against the DPRK, our army should deal a deadly blow to thoroughly annihilate them by mobilising all the toughest means and potentialities without [a] moment\u2019s hesitation,\u201d Kim said, using the abbreviation of North Korea\u2019s official name.
\nKim\u2019s comments echo the rhetoric of last week\u2019s yearend party meetings.
\nDuring the five-day event to set the policy agenda for 2024, the North Korean leader accused the US of posing \u201cvarious forms of military threat\u201d.
\nKim told the meeting he would no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with South Korea, noting the \u201cuncontrollable crisis\u201d that he said was triggered by Seoul and Washington.
\nIn his New Year\u2019s Day address on Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said he would strengthen his military\u2019s preemptive strike, missile defence and retaliatory capabilities in response to the North Korean nuclear threat.
\n\u201cThe Republic of Korea is building genuine, lasting peace through strength, not a submissive peace that is dependent on the goodwill of the adversary,\u201d Yoon said, using South Korea\u2019s official name.
\nPyongyang declared itself an \u201cirreversible\u201d nuclear power in 2022 and has repeatedly said it will never give up its nuclear weapons programme, which it views as essential for its survival.
\nThe United Nations Security Council UNSC) has adopted many resolutions calling on North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes since Pyongyang first conducted a nuclear test in 2006.
\nWith the US holding a presidential election in November, and Donald Trump once again in the running, analysts have suggested Kim may be hoping his expanded nuclear arsenal will give him leverage against the US should Trump be re-elected.
\nIn 2018-19, Kim met Trump on three occasions but the flurry of diplomacy collapsed after the US rejected Kim\u2019s offer to dismantle his main nuclear complex, a limited step, in exchange for extensive reductions in US-led sanctions.
\nSince 2022, North Korea has conducted more than 100 missile tests, prompting the US and South Korea to expand their joint military drills. North Korea has also tried to strengthen its relationships with longtime allies China and Russia, which blocked efforts by the US and its partners in the UNSC to toughen UN sanctions on North Korea over its weapons tests.
\nKCNA said Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged New Year\u2019s Day messages on Monday on bolstering bilateral ties.
\nNorth Korea faces suspicions that it has supplied conventional arms for Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine in return for sophisticated Russian technologies to enhance the North\u2019s weapons programmes.
\nThe successful launch of the spy satellite came two months after Kim travelled to Russia where he held a summit with President Vladimir Putin and toured Russian weapons factories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
North Korean leader echoes earlier bellicose rhetoric after promising to launch new satellites and further expand arsenal Seoul North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his military to \u201cthoroughly annihilate\u201d South Korea and the United States if they initiate a military confrontation in another round of bellicose rhetoric targeting Seoul and Washington. The two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-378172","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n