North Korea says it will attack with nukes if South attacks: KCNA

SEOUL, April 5 (Reuters) – North Korea opposes war but would use nuclear weapons if South Korea attacked, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said on Tuesday in a warning that according to analysts, probably points to the South’s incoming Conservative president.

Kim Yo Jong, a senior government and ruling party official, said it was a “huge mistake” for South Korea’s defense minister to make recent comments about the attacks on North Korea, state news agency KCNA reported.

South Korea’s Defense Minister Suh Wook said on Friday that his country’s military has a variety of missiles with significantly improved range, accuracy and power, with “the ability to accurately and quickly hit any target in South Korea.” North”.

Both Koreas have stepped up shows of military force after North Korea tested an increasingly powerful range of missiles this year. Officials in Seoul and Washington also fear he is preparing to resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time since 2017 amid stalled negotiations. Read more

Kim and another North Korean official issued earlier statements Sunday condemning Suh’s comments and warning that Pyongyang would destroy important targets in Seoul if the South takes any “dangerous military action” such as a pre-emptive strike. Read more

Kim’s criticism is likely directed at South Korea’s president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who has called for a stronger defense against North Korean threats, said Rachel Minyoung Lee, an analyst with the US-based 38 North project. The US monitors North Korea. . Read more

“Yoon’s ‘preemptive strike’ comment made headlines a few months ago, and Pyongyang is seizing on Suh’s comments to point the finger at the incoming South Korean administration,” he said. “Until now, North Korea has refrained from criticizing Yoon at any level of authority, but it certainly appears to be laying the groundwork for it.”

The remarks suggest that Pyongyang is preparing the North Korean public for a possible shift in inter-Korean relations once Yoon takes office in May, Lee added.

A delegation from Yoon’s team was in Washington this week to meet with US officials, who reiterated their commitment to defending South Korea, according to a US State Department statement on Tuesday. Read more

In his statement Tuesday, Kim said Pyongyang opposes the war, which would leave the peninsula in ruins, and does not see South Korea as its main enemy.

“But if South Korea, for whatever reason, whether or not it is blinded by an error in judgment, opts for military action like the ‘preemptive strike’ touted by (Suh Wook), the situation will change,” Kim added. “In that case, South Korea itself will become a target.”

If the South Korean military violates North Korean territory, it will face an “unimaginably terrible disaster” and the North’s nuclear fighting force will inevitably have to do its duty, he said, noting that the South can prevent this. destiny by dropping any “fantastic daydreams” of launching a preemptive strike against a nuclear-armed state.

Reporting by Josh Smith Editing by Chris Reese, Sandra Maler, and Gerry Doyle

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