Nuclear Weapons Ready To Mobilise, According To Kim Jong Un

According to state media on Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stated that his nation was “ready to mobilise” its nuclear deterrent in the event of a future military conflict with the United States and South Korea.

Pyongyang is reportedly planning to conduct its seventh nuclear test, which Washington and Seoul have repeatedly warned would result in a “rapid and severe” retaliation from their countries.

Kim said that the nation’s armed forces were “thoroughly prepared” for any crisis in his most recent speech, which was given to commemorate the armistice that halted hostilities in the Korean War, dubbed in the North as “Victory Day.”

According to Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency, Kim declared in a speech on Wednesday that his nation’s nuclear war deterrent was prepared to mobilise its total strength faithfully, precisely, and quickly in accordance with its duty.

On the 69th anniversary of the conclusion of the Korean War (1950–1953), Kim stressed the nation’s “thorough preparation” to “handle any military collision with the United States.”

His most recent warnings come at a time when South Korea and the US are moving to increase joint military drills, which have traditionally enraged the North because Pyongyang, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), views them as invasion drills.

For the first time since 2019, the US military conducted live-fire training with its cutting-edge Apache helicopters stationed in the South this week.

Ned Price, a spokesperson for the US State Department, responded that Kim’s comments were “not categorically different from what we’ve heard from the DPRK government over the course of recent months and in recent years” when questioned about them.

Price told reporters in Washington, “The DPRK also won’t be surprised to hear the same message from us and that is that our commitment to the defence of the Republic of Korea and Japan…remains solid.”

Kim also criticised the Republic of Korea, the official name for the South’s new hawkish leader.

Since taking office in May, President Yoon Suk-yeol has vowed to take a harder stance against Pyongyang, including a proposal to activate a preemptive strike capability.

Regarding the Yoon administration, which he referred to as a group of “gangsters,” Kim stated, “Talking about military action against our nation, which possesses absolute weaponry that they fear the most, is ludicrous and is very dangerous self-destructive conduct.”

The Yoon Suk Yeol government and his military will be completely destroyed if such a risky effort is made, according to our mighty strength.

This year, the North conducted a record-breaking flurry of weapons tests that violated sanctions, including the first intercontinental ballistic missile launch at full range since 2017.

Since a summit between Kim and the then-US president Donald Trump in February 2019 collapsed over sanctions relief and what the North would be willing to give up in exchange, nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have been in a standstill.

Since then, the Kim dictatorship has turned down numerous invitations from Seoul and Washington to begin negotiations, insisting that the US must first change its “hostile” policies.

Impoverished Long-standing food insecurity in Pyongyang has been exacerbated by sanctions over its nuclear programmes, pandemic-related border closures, and other economic hardships.

After the government reported its first cases of COVID-19 in May, it also had to contend with a significant “fever” outbreak.