SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korea’s ruler has said her country will continue to display its military might in response to a new agreement between Washington and Seoul to step up its nuclear deterrent to counter the North Korean atomic threat, which she insists shows her “brutal” hostility towards Pyongyang.
Kim Yo Jong also hurled insults at US President Joe Biden, who, following a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, said Wednesday that a North Korean nuclear attack on the United States or its allies “will result in the end of any regime” that take such action.
Biden and Yoon met in Washington amid escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula as the pace of both North Korean weapons shows and US-South Korean military drills has increased in a cycle of reciprocity.
Since early 2022, North Korea has test-fired some 100 missiles, including various displays of ICBMs designed to hit the mainland United States, as well as a series of short-range firings that the North Korean government described as a nuclear attack drill against South Korea.
North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un is widely expected to intensify his pressure in the coming weeks or months, as he continues to accelerate his campaign to consolidate North Korea’s position as a nuclear power and eventually negotiate security and economic concessions from North Korea. of the United States from a position of strength.
During their meeting, Biden and Yoon announced new deterrent measures that call for the regular docking of US nuclear-armed submarines in South Korea for the first time in decades, and increased military training between the two countries. They also pledged to draw up plans for bilateral presidential consultations in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack, the establishment of an atomic advisory group, and improve information sharing on strategic and atomic weapons operation plans.
In his comments published in state media, Kim Yo Jong said the US-South Korea agreement “reflects the most hostile and aggressive will for action” of both allies against Pyongyang, and will put regional peace and security at a risk. “greatest danger”.
Kim Yo Jong, a top foreign policy official in her brother’s regime, said the meeting in Washington further increased North Korea’s conviction to strengthen its nuclear weapons capability. He said it will be of particular importance for the North Korean government to refine the “second mission of this deterrent,” an apparent reference to the country’s nuclear build-up doctrine, which calls for preemptive atomic strikes in a wide range of scenarios where it could perceive that his government is threatened.
She lashed out at Biden for his categorical warning that a North Korean nuclear attack could result in the end of the Pyongyang regime, describing it as “a doddering dotage,” “foolishness” and “irresponsible bravado.” However, she said North Korea cannot simply dismiss Biden’s words as “old geezer’s nonsense.”
“The fact that this expression has been used directly by the president of the United States, the most hostile country, signifies the rhetorical threat that we cannot easily ignore and requires being prepared for the dire consequences,” Kim said.
“As enemies become more fanatical about nuclear war exercises and deploy much more strategic nuclear properties in the Korean Peninsula region, we will resort to exercising the right of self-defense more proportionately,” he added.
