North Korea’s Kim takes notes as Russia makes nuclear threats in Ukraine war

Name: Kim Jong-un oversees missile launch, one of several recent tests by North Korea
Uploaded: 2022-10-13T14:45:09.000Z
Duration: 1 min 45 s
Description: Kim Jong-un oversees missile launch, one of several recent tests by North Korea

With Putin raising the prospect of using tactical nukes, there’s fear that this normalisation of nuclear threats is emboldening Kim Jong-un

After more than 40 missile launches this year, there are signs that North Korea is becoming more aggressive in making its nuclear bombs the centrepiece of its military

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects a missile test in North Korea. File photo: KCNA/Korea News Service via AP

Associated Press

Published: 10:45pm, 13 Oct 2022Updated: 11:50pm, 13 Oct 2022

For decades North Korea has threatened to turn enemy cities into a “sea of fire”, even as it doggedly worked on building a nuclear weapons programme that could back up its belligerent words.

Now, as North Korea conducts another torrid run of powerful weapons tests – and threatens pre-emptive nuclear strikes on Washington and Seoul – it may be taking inspiration from the fiery rhetoric of the leader of a nuclear-armed member of the UN Security Council: Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

With Putin raising the terrifying prospect of using tactical nukes to turn around battleground setbacks in Ukraine, there’s fear that this normalisation of nuclear threats is emboldening North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as he puts the finishing touches on his still incomplete nuclear programme.

“Putin and Kim feed off each other, routinising the right to nuke a peaceful neighbour by repeating it without repercussion,” said Sung-Yoon Lee, an expert on North Korea at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. “Putin’s threats sound more credible than Kim’s, as there is bloodshed in Ukraine every day. But Kim’s threats must not be dismissed as empty bluster.”

01:45

Kim Jong-un oversees missile launch, one of several recent tests by North Korea

After more than 40 missile launches this year – its most ever – there are a host of fresh signs that North Korea is becoming more aggressive in making its nuclear bombs the centrepiece of its military.

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