Kim Jong-un vows to use nuclear weapons as he speeds up forces
- In a parade on Monday night to mark the 90th anniversary of North Korea’s army, the leader pledged to continue with provocative weapons tests
- He called for his country’s nuclear weapons to be fully prepared to go ‘in motion at any time’ and vowed to leave any invaders ‘perished’
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to move faster in bolstering his nuclear forces and threatened to use them if provoked in a speech he delivered during a military parade that featured powerful weapons systems targeting the country’s rivals, state media reported Tuesday.
His remarks suggest he will continue provocative weapons tests in a pressure campaign to wrest concessions from the United States and its allies. The parade Monday night was to mark the 90th anniversary of North Korea’s army – the backbone of the Kim family’s authoritarian rule – and was held as the country’s economy is battered by pandemic-related difficulties, punishing US-led sanctions and its own mismanagement.
State media photos showed Kim, dressed in a white military ceremonial coat, smiling and waving from a balcony along with his wife Ri Sol Ju and other top deputies.
“(We) will continue to take measures for further developing the nuclear forces of our state at the fastest possible speed,” Kim told his troops and the crowd gathered for the parade at a Pyongyang plaza, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
He repeated an earlier message that the North could pre-emptively use its nuclear weapons when threatened by attacks and called for his nuclear forces to be fully prepared to go “in motion at any time.”
“The fundamental mission of our nuclear forces is to deter a war, but our nukes can never be confined to the single mission of war deterrent even at a time when a situation we are not desirous of at all is created on this land,” Kim said. “If any forces try to violate the fundamental interests of our state, our nuclear forces will have to decisively accomplish its unexpected second mission,” which would leave any invading force “perished,” he said.
The parade featured thousands of goose-stepping troops shouting “hurrah!” and some of North Korea’s most powerful missiles. Some intercontinental ballistic missiles could put the US homeland well within range, and a variety of shorter-range solid-fuel missiles pose a growing threat to South Korea and Japan.
