SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to bolster his nuclear forces at “maximum speed” and threatened to use them if provoked in a speech he delivered during a military parade that featured powerful weapons systems targeting the United States and its allies, state media reported Tuesday.
His remarks suggest he will continue provocative weapons tests in a pressure campaign to wrest concessions from the U.S. and other rivals. The parade Monday night was to mark the 90th anniversary of North Korea’s army – the backbone of the Kim family’s authoritarian rule – and comes as the country faces an economy battered by pandemic-related difficulties, punishing U.S.-led sanctions and its own mismanagement.
State media photos showed Kim, dressed in a white military ceremonial coat, smiling and waving from a balcony along with his wife Ri Sol Ju and other top deputies.
“We will continue to implement measures aimed at strengthening and developing our country’s nuclear forces at the maximum speed,” Kim told his troops and the crowd gathered for the parade at a Pyongyang plaza, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
“The fundamental mission of our nuclear forces is to deter war, but if an undesirable situation emerges on our land, our nuclear forces cannot be limited to a single mission of preventing war,” Kim said. “If any forces, regardless of who they are, try to infringe upon our fundamental interests, our nuclear forces will have no choice but to absolutely carry out its unexpected second mission.”