Kim Jong Un Instructs Military to Destroy US, South Korea in Event of Armed Conflict - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has instructed the country's military to destroy the United States and South Korea with "a blow" and "without hesitation" if they choose a confrontation path and provoke a conflict in the Korean Peninsula, the state-run KCNA news agency reported on Sunday.

"Solemnly declaring that if the US and South Korean puppets stubbornly attempt a military confrontation with the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea], the latter's nuclear war deterrence will go over to a grave action without hesitation, the conclusion set forth the important tasks for the fields in charge of the affairs with enemies and foreign countries to make preparations in a foresighted way for keeping pace with the powerful military actions of the Korean People's Army to subjugate the whole territory of the south on the basis of making it a fait accompli that a war may break out on the Korean peninsula any time due to the enemies' reckless moves for invading the DPRK," KCNA quoted Kim as addressing the 9th Enlarged Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).

After analyzing in detail the dangerous security situation in the Korean Peninsula and the military actions of the US and other hostile forces, Kim stressed the need further "to further accelerate the radical development of the national defence capabilities" to protect the country's security and peace.

The North Korean leader added that Washington's "inveterate hostile acts" against Pyongyang "have evidently evolved into a stage of execution which can lead to actual military actions and thus trigger a conflict between the armed forces of both sides." He also said that the government of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol "is making a suicidal attempt to achieve the 'balance of power'" with North Korea and "in confrontation with it to the last by expanding the 'UN Command,' an illegal ghost body, into a multinational war organization for provoking the second Korean war, the report said.

Kim has reiterated the need to "steadily step up the work for getting the overwhelming war response capability and the full and perfect military combat readiness to deter any form of provocation and action at a blow since the enemies' desperate efforts get more serious," and said that the country's army "should closely watch and sharply control the hourly changing acute security situation in the Korean peninsula and take more thorough military measures to firmly safeguard the security of the state" and "rapidly respond to any possible nuclear crisis and put continuous spurs to the preparations for a great event to suppress the whole territory of South Korea by mobilizing all physical means and forces including nuclear forces in contingency."

The North Korean leader expressed confidence that "the word 'war' is already approaching us as a realistic entity, not as an abstract concept," 2024 will become the era of strengthening war preparedness, and that Pyongyang would make even greater progress in building a powerful military.