Kim stressed the “need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defence always on standby so as to be fired any moment”, the report said.
Advertisement
Leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered North Korea’s nuclear arsenal to be ready for pre-emptive use “anytime”, in an expected ramping up of rhetoric following the UN Security Council’s adoption of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang. The sanctions vote occurred almost one month after North Korea launched a nuclear missile on February 7, having successfully tested a hydrogen bomb a month earlier, its fourth such test.
The 33-year-old communist leader said the country’s nuclear weapons should be ready for use at a moment’s notice, and added that the military’s posture would be changed so it is able to carry out pre-emptive attacks in the face of foreign threats, the Yonhap news agency reported.
“No kind of sanctions will ever work on us, because we’ve lived under USA sanctions for more than half a century”, said Pyongyang resident Song Hyo Il.
“Kim Jong Un is signaling to the world that the sanctions will not hurt him, he will not deviate from his nuclear and missile plans, and he will circumvent sanctions”, said Patrick Cronin of the Center for a New American Security.
Johns Hopkins University’s 38 North project – which monitors North Korea – said: “In addition to activity at the test area, vehicles and personnel are present at the Sohae launch pad”.
In Seoul, President Park Geun-hye of South Korea warned that Pyongyang could attempt more provocations and said the South’s military should be prepared.
Later on Friday, North Korea rejected the Security Council resolution as a “criminal act” masterminded by the United States and vowed to continue boosting its nuclear deterrent and move forward on the path to become a “satellite superpower ” “.
“We fully anticipate that they will try to drive a truck through any loophole that they can find”, said Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Officials will “discuss the possibility of the deployment of THAAD which will be operated by US Forces in Korea in South Korea in one of the series of efforts to develop missile defense system of the South Korea – U.S. alliance”. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, from South Korea, also lauded the decision.
Pyongyang’s never been happy to see sanctions after its nuclear and missile tests and this time is no exception.
Advertisement
Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said the short-range projectiles fired by the North indicate that they are not yet drawing any proper conclusions. Opponents say the system could help US radar spot missiles in other countries as well.
