North Korea ‘on the path of self-destruction’ if it uses nuclear weapons, Seoul warns

Name: North Korea celebrates 74th anniversary as Pyongyang passes new nuclear law
Uploaded: 2022-09-13T07:03:15.000Z
Duration: 1 min 40 s
Description: North Korea celebrates 74th anniversary as Pyongyang passes new nuclear law

Seoul’s Defence Ministry warned the North that it would face an ‘overwhelming response’ from US and South Korea if it attempted to use nuclear weapons

Pyongyang last week passed a law allowing it to use such weapons if its leadership faces attack or to prevent an unspecified ‘catastrophic crisis’

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends an event earlier this year marking the anniversary of the army’s founding. Photo: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

Associated Pressin Seoul

Published: 3:03pm, 13 Sep 2022

South Korea warned North Korea on Tuesday that using its nuclear weapons would put it on a “path of self-destruction”, in unusually harsh language that came days after Pyongyang introduced a new law that would allow it to use its nuclear weapons preemptively.

North Korea is likely to be infuriated by the South Korean rhetoric as Seoul typically shuns such strong words to avoid raising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry said the legislation would only deepen North Korea’s isolation and prompt Seoul and Washington to “further strengthen their deterrence and reaction capacities”.

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North Korea celebrates 74th anniversary as Pyongyang passes new nuclear law

To get North Korea not to use its nuclear weapons, the ministry said South Korea will sharply boost its own pre-emptive attack, missile defence and massive retaliation capacities while seeking a greater US security commitment to defend its ally South Korea with all available capabilities, including nuclear one.

“We warn that the North Korean government would face the overwhelming response by the South Korea-US military alliance and go on the path of self-destruction, if it attempts to use nuclear weapons,” Moon Hong-sik, an acting ministry spokesman, told reporters.

Last week, North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament adopted the legislation on the governing rules of its nuclear arsenal. The legislation would allow North Korea to use its nuclear weapons if its leadership faces an imminent attack or if it aims to prevent an unspecified “catastrophic crisis” to its people.

The loose wording raised concerns the rules are largely meant as a legal basis to use its nuclear weapons pre-emptively to intimidate its rivals into making concessions amid long-stalled diplomacy on its weapons arsenal.