North Korea’s leader says he will respond to threats with nuclear weapons

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he would respond to US threats with nuclear weapons, state media reported Saturday, after Kim personally watched Pyongyang’s latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Since Kim Jong-un declared North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear power in September, Washington has been increasing regional security cooperation, including joint military exercises, and looking for ways to strengthen the protection it offers Seoul and Tokyo.

Kim shouted down what he called “military exercises of aggression” and said that if America continues to threaten the North, Pyongyang “will resolutely respond with nuclear weapons and all-out confrontation,” according to KCNA.

KCNA said Kim attended the launch “along with his beloved daughter and wife,” and pictures in state media showed a beaming Kim walking in front of the giant black-and-white rocket, accompanied by a doting young girl in a down jacket and red shoes. .

Kim’s children are rarely mentioned by state media, and experts believe this is one of the first official confirmations of his daughter.

North Korea has carried out a record number of blitz launches in recent weeks, which Pyongyang – and some allies including Moscow – have repeatedly blamed on the US for stepping up regional security cooperation, including joint military exercises.

The country’s “new type” Hwasong-17 ICBM was launched on Friday, KCNA said, adding that “the test fire clearly proved the reliability of the new major strategic weapon system.”

“Kim Jong Un said he came to reaffirm that the DPRK’s nuclear forces have provided another reliable and maximum capability to deter any nuclear threat,” the report added.

KCNA said the missile rose “to a maximum altitude of 6,040.9 km (3,750 miles) and flew a distance of 999.2 km” before “precisely landing in a predetermined area” in the East Sea or Sea of ​​Japan.

The distance and height matched estimates given by Seoul and Tokyo on Friday, and were only slightly smaller than the ICBM fired by Pyongyang on March 24 in what appeared to be the North’s most powerful such test.

North Korea also claimed it was also launched on March 24 by the Hwasong-17, one of Kim’s biggest weapons, which analysts called a “monster missile,” but Seoul later disputed that claim.

But this time, analysts said the North appeared to have succeeded.

“The Hwasong-17 is the largest land-based liquid-fueled missile ever developed and tested anywhere, so the North Koreans set a record of sorts with this successful flight test,” North Korea expert Ankit Panda said on Twitter.

– New Generation Kims –

North Korea has fired many ballistic missiles this year – far more than any other year – and recent launches have been increasingly provocative, including a missile launch over Japan last month that prompted a rare airstrike warning.

On Nov. 2, Pyongyang fired 23 missiles, including one that crossed the de facto maritime border and landed near the South’s territorial waters for the first time since the end of hostilities in the 1953 Korean War. Seoul called it a “de facto territorial invasion.” .

The next day, North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, although Seoul said it had malfunctioned in flight.

The most important takeaway from Friday’s ICBM launch is “the sustainability of the Kim regime’s weapons program, because it is critical to the survival of Kim himself and the continuity of his family’s rule,” said Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst now with the RAND Corporation Corporation. AFP.

“It even solves some of the curiosities and questions about continuity,” she said.

“We saw with our own eyes the fourth generation of the Kim family. And his daughter – along with potential other siblings – will surely be cared for by her father.”

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Xi and Kishida will meet as North Korea launches a missile

Bangkok (AFP), November 17, 2022

The leaders of China and Japan will hold their first face-to-face talks in three years on Thursday after North Korea launched its latest record-breaking missile attack, sparking nuclear fears. Chinese President Xi Jinping flew into Bangkok for talks from the G20 meeting in Bali, where US President Joe Biden pressed him to use his influence to rein in Pyongyang’s activities. As Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida prepared to meet, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile… read on