SEOUL, April 26 (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.
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“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.”
The parade featured marching troops shouting “hurrah!” and an array of modern weapons including missiles potentially capable of reaching the U.S. homeland as well as shorter-range missiles that can be fired from land vehicles or submarines and threaten South Korea and Japan.
One of the weapons showcased at the brightly illuminated Kim Il Sung Square named after Kim’s late grandfather and state founder, was North Korea’s biggest, newly built intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-17.
North Korea claimed to have test-fired that missile last month in its first full-range ICBM liftoff in more that four years.
South Korea disputed that, saying North Korea launched a smaller, existing Hwasong-15 ICBM following a failed launch of the Hwasong-17. Despite the outside doubts, the missile fired on March 24 flew longer and higher than any other missile North Korea has launched, demonstrating potential ability to reach deep into the U.S. mainland.
KCNA said spectators at the parade raised loud cheers when they saw the Hwasong-17, which it said showed “the absolute power of Juche (self-reliance), Korea and the strategic position of our republic to the world.”
North Korea often commemorates key state anniversaries with huge fanfare to boost an internal unity.
