The North Korean leader said while Pyongyang would not ‘unilaterally’ trigger a confrontation, it had ‘no intention of avoiding a war as well’.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for a strengthened nuclear deterrent and warned he would have no hesitation in “annihilating” the rival South, while touring major weapons factories, state media reported on Wednesday.
Labelling South Korea the “principal enemy”, he said Pyongyang’s priority should be to “bolster up the military capabilities for self-defence and the nuclear war deterrent first of all”, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in decades, after Kim enshrined the country’s status as a nuclear power into the constitution and test-fired several advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Kim said that while the North – formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea would not “unilaterally” trigger a confrontation, it had “no intention of avoiding a war as well”, according to KCNA.
