North Korea has promised to ‘resolutely react’ to US threat of nuclear weapons use with its own nuclear capabilities.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has promised to use nuclear weapons to counter threats from the United States hours after test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICMB), the latest escalation as the UN Security Council prepares to convene an emergency session on Pyongyang’s actions.
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“Kim Jong Un solemnly declared that if the enemies continue to pose threats … our party and government will resolutely react to nukes with nuclear weapons and to total confrontation with all-out confrontation,” Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Saturday.
KCNA said the Hwasong-17 launched on Friday was aimed at achieving “the most powerful and absolute nuclear deterrence” and described the missile as “the strongest strategic weapon in the world”.
North Korea has long defended its launch of ballistic missiles as a legitimate defence against what it calls a decades-old threat from US military forces and its allies in South Korea.
Kim was accompanied by his daughter, in her first public appearance, while he inspected a missile launch site on Friday. Trailed by military officials and personnel, Kim and his daughter walked hand-in-hand through the ICBM launch site where they paused to observe military hardware and multiple ICBMs.
