North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned that any South Korean action perceived as encroaching on North Korea’s sovereignty would provoke a swift nuclear response. Kim’s statement, reported by state media KCNA on Friday, came amid heightened tensions between the two Koreas.
Kim issued this warning during a visit to a North Korean special forces base on Wednesday, where he emphasized that North Korea would unleash “all the offensive forces it possesses, including nuclear weapons” if its sovereignty is threatened. He also suggested that, in such a situation, “the permanent existence of Seoul and the Republic of Korea would be impossible.”
Kim’s comments came after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s warning on Tuesday. Yoon, during South Korea’s Armed Forces Day celebration, cautioned that any nuclear strike by North Korea would mark “the end of the North Korean regime” and pledged a “resolute, overwhelming response” from Seoul and its U.S. allies. The warning followed the debut of South Korea’s Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile.
Kim responded by dismissing Yoon as “an abnormal man,” while Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister and senior official, ridiculed Seoul’s military, asserting South Korea’s conventional forces would be ineffective against North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.
Relations between the two Koreas have sunk to a new low, with North Korea ramping up missile tests and South Korea expanding joint military drills with the United States. North Korea’s parliament is expected next week to declare a “two-state” system, officially rejecting reconciliation efforts and potentially redefining national borders. Diplomatic engagement has remained frozen since 2019.
Recently, North Korea released photos of its uranium enrichment facility and has expressed intentions to increase its nuclear stockpile exponentially. Pyongyang last conducted a nuclear test in 2017. In response to North Korea’s latest actions, South Korea resumed anti-Pyongyang broadcasts after the North sent balloons filled with litter across the border.
Must read: WHO Approves First Diagnostic Test for Mpox
