Statements and threats from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un should never be taken lightly, especially when they concern nuclear power. “Pyongyang will without hesitation use all offensive means at its disposal, including nuclear weapons” if “the enemy” attacks the country by means of “armed forces,” announced the leader in power since December 2011, in remarks reported Friday October 4 by the official KCNA agency. Kim Jong Un in the footsteps of Vladimir Putin In a context of regional tension with South Korea, war in the Middle East and Ukraine, Kim Jong-un comes to remind us that Like his great Russian ally Vladimir Putin, he would be capable of using nuclear weapons. The North Korean leader made the comments during a visit to a special forces unit, the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said on Friday. According to the information site specializing in North Korea, NKNews, based in Seoul, he also questioned the mental health of his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol. Seoul in tension The latter, on October 1, at the On the occasion of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces Day, declared that if the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) attempts to use nuclear weapons, “this day will be the day of the fall of the North Korean regime “. In the eyes of the North Korean leader, making such warlike declarations “at the gates of a nuclear-armed state (…) raises questions about whether he is of sound mind.” The warning from the South president – Korean also came weeks after North Korea first released images of a uranium enrichment facility, showing leader Kim Jong-un visiting the site. Pyongyang, which carried out its first nuclear test in 2006 and has been the subject of numerous United Nations sanctions since 2016 for its banned weapons programs, had never publicly displayed these facilities. These produce highly enriched uranium, necessary for the manufacture of nuclear warheads, using high-speed centrifuges. Thus, for several decades, North Korea had exercised a form of nuclear blackmail by carrying out six nuclear tests underground since 2006, casting doubt on its capabilities to manufacture nuclear warheads. In less than twenty years, the regime secretly continued its nuclear programs until claiming to be a “nuclear power”, a status enshrined in its Constitution. No expert today doubts this reality, even estimating the North Korean arsenal at around fifty nuclear warheads. From there to whether Pyongyang uses them, there are strong uncertainties, but the process is irreversible. At the United Nations General Assembly on Monday October 1, North Korean Ambassador Kim Song (Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui did not attend, having preferred to go to the Brics summit in Russia) recalled forcefully that “North Korea will never negotiate the abandonment of its nuclear weapons program, regardless of who wins the next American presidential election.” Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have been warned.
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