South Korea’s Military Ready as Kim Jong Un Threatens Nuclear Counterattack

North Korea’s Chairman Kim Jong Un celebrated and encouraged the soldiers of the 2nd Red Flag Missile Brigade, who participated in the Hwasong-18 ICBM launch exercise on the 18th, at the Central Committee headquarters of the party on the 20th, as reported by Korean Central Television on the 21st./Yonhap News

The Ministry of National Defense refuted Kim Jong Un’s public declaration of ‘nuclear counterattack in case of nuclear provocation’ by stating, “The military authorities will also devise countermeasures and maintain a prepared stance.”

Jeon Ha Kyu, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense of South Korea, responded to a reporter’s question about the response to the deployment of U.S. strategic bombers on the 20th during a regular briefing on the 21st.

Jeon said, “North Korea is currently developing a weapons system according to the authorities’ plan,” and “As a result, North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats are increasing.” He explained, “Rather than a strong confrontation raised in some quarters, it is taking necessary responses to the growing threat from North Korea.”

A Unification Ministry official, meeting with reporters, declared, “South Korea, the U.S., and Japan will jointly suppress and abandon nuclear development with an overwhelming response,” and added, “If nuclear weapons are used, it will spell the end for the North Korean regime.”

On the same day, North Korea’s state-run media, Korean Central News Agency, expressed caution about the decision to add nuclear operation exercises to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) joint training through a commentary.

The Korean Central News Agency asserted that the extensive joint military exercises, previously conducted under the guise of providing a “nuclear umbrella” and “protection” for allies, will shift focus next year towards a more aggressive and invasive objective. This objective, they claim, is to realize an actual nuclear pre-emptive strike against their nation.

The U.S. and South Korea, who held the 2nd Nuclear Consultation Group (NCG) meeting in Washington D.C. on the 15th (local time), seem to have planned a counter-protest against the two countries that announced the joint nuclear operation training next August, considering the internal unity. The practice of dropping nuclear weapons in North Korea during the UFG is interpreted as meaning.

Earlier, on the 18th, North Korea aggravated the instability of the Korean Peninsula by launching short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) for two consecutive days. This provocation is the first in 25 days since the failure of the intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launch on the 22nd of last month, and the ICBM is the fifth this year.

By. Young Hun Park