The authoritarian ruler of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, is yearning for a powerful military that can compete with the United States. He has regularly threatened to strike South Korea and the US. His rhetoric has gotten a lot more extreme in recent years.
Recently, the leader ranted about routine military exercises carried out with the US and its allies, Japan and South Korea. North Korea threatened nuclear war.
A Threat
Kim spoke on August 28 in honor of Navy Day. He asserted that the perceived threat of a nuclear war makes the waters near the Korean Peninsula unstable. Kim claimed that America had instigated the conflict.
The dictator of North Korea informed his people that the current circumstances needed his navy to “put all its efforts” into ensuring that his country’s military maintains its “constant combat alertness.” He called Presidents Joe Biden and Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea “gang bosses” in their respective nations.
However, it’s unclear how successful Kim will be in his goal of arming his navy’s submarines with nuclear-capable missiles. Recently, the nation’s second attempt to launch a spy satellite into orbit failed. The equipment-carrying missile crashed during the third stage of flight.
Kim has conducted more than 100 nuclear tests since the year 2022 began. The regime claimed that some of the weaponry involved nuclear-capable missiles that could strike the US, Japan, and South Korea.
Training Exercises Set Kim Off
In the middle of August, the US military started training alongside South Korea. The drills go occur every year, but Kim has concluded they are practice invasions of the North. On August 29, Japan participated in drills that were held in international waters off the coast of South Korea’s Jeju Island alongside the South and the US.
The forces were exercising the techniques that would be used to find, monitor, and communicate data on missiles fired by North Korea.
Lim Soosuk, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry in South Korea, released a statement regarding Kim’s latest rhetoric, expressing disappointment over his use of “very rude language” to insult and slander the leaders of the three countries. They called on the North Korean leader to stop his provocation and threats.
Cho Hyundong, the South Korean ambassador to the US, said the efforts of the the allied countries won’t be stopped by rhetoric from the North Korean leader. In fact, Cho said the “continued violation of multiple critical U.N. security resolutions by [Kim] will only strengthen the trilateral security cooperation.”
