North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Thursday that his country could “completely destroy” South Korea if it felt threatened and labeled Seoul the “most hostile enemy,” according to state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). He dismissed recent outreach from South Korea and said the country’s conciliatory tone was “clumsily deceptive and crude,” KCNA reported.
At the ruling Workers’ Party’s Ninth Congress in Pyongyang, Kim outlined sweeping five-year policy goals centered on expanding the country’s nuclear forces. Kim said it is the party’s “firm will to further expand and strengthen our national nuclear power,” KCNA reported. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated last year that North Korea possesses about 50 nuclear warheads and has enough fissile material to produce up to 40 more.
KCNA said Kim also called for development of more advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of underwater launches, artificial intelligence-driven weapons systems and unmanned drones. He warned that North Korea “can initiate arbitrary action” if South Korea engages in what he called “obnoxious behavior,” and said “South Korea’s complete collapse cannot be ruled out,” KCNA reported.
Kim signaled he could be open to future negotiations with Washington if the United States withdrew its policy of confrontation and recognized North Korea’s “current status,” KCNA quoted him as saying. KCNA also reported that his teenage daughter Ju Ae, believed to be 13 or 14, attended a military parade after the congress and was photographed beside her father and senior military leaders. South Korean media have reported Kim recently gave her a role in the regime’s “Missile Administration,” which oversees Pyongyang’s nuclear forces. Reuters and The Associated Press contributed reporting.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
