North Korea warns of nuclear response if South provokes it
ABC News
The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated South Korea for touting preemptive strike capabilities against the North, saying her country’s nuclear forces would annihilate the South’s conventional forces if provoked
SEOUL, South Korea -- For the second time in three days, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated South Korea for touting its supposed preemptive strike capabilities against the North, saying her country’s nuclear forces would annihilate the South’s conventional forces if provoked.
In a statement carried Tuesday by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo Jong called South Korea Defense Minister Suh Wook’s recent comments about preemptive strikes a “fantastic daydream” and the “hysteria of a lunatic.”
She stressed that North Korea doesn’t want another war on the Korean Peninsula but warned it would retaliate with its nuclear forces if the South opts for preemptive strikes or other attacks, which would leave the South’s military “little short of total destruction and ruin.”
North Korea has repeatedly stated it would preemptively use its nuclear weapons when threatened by South Korea or the United States as it accelerated its development of nuclear bombs and missiles, which Kim Jong Un sees as his strongest guarantee of survival.
