Kim Jong-un calls out Yoon Suk-yeol three times in hostile anniversary speech

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Kim Jong-un calls out Yoon Suk-yeol three times in hostile anniversary speech

Published: 28 Jul. 2022, 17:27 Updated: 28 Jul. 2022, 18:19

In this photo released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers a speech in Pyongyang celebrating the 69th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. [YONHAP]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un blasted South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol for suggesting Seoul would enhance its preemptive strike capabilities against Pyongyang — a course of action Kim said would lead to South Korea's "annihilation."

The North Korean leader made the remarks at an outdoor gathering in Pyongyang Wednesday celebrating the end of the Korean War in 1953. The speech was Kim's first public appearance in 19 days.

Kim’s speech struck a defiant and threatening chord against Seoul’s conservative administration and Washington. Kim mentioned South Korea’s president by name three times in the speech and branded the South’s military as "gangsters." He expressed particular rage at Seoul’s deterring the threat from North’s nuclear weapons and missile program by strengthening its “Kill Chain” preemptive strike capabilities.

“Such a dangerous attempt will be punished immediately with a powerful force that will wipe out the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and his military,” Kim said in the speech, which was released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday.

Wednesday marked the 69th anniversary of the armistice that ended hostilities in the Korean War, which began with a North Korean invasion of the South on June 25, 1950.

The North celebrates the date of the armistice signed on July 27, 1953 as the “Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War,” although the North failed in its objective to conquer the South by military force during the war.

“If the South Korean regime and military gangsters scheme of ways they can militarily confront us and preemptively neutralize or destroy part of our military power using specific military means and method, they should abandon such thoughts,” Kim said.

“Our armed forces are thoroughly prepared to respond to any crisis, while our country’s nuclear war deterrent is fully prepared to use its absolute power faithfully, accurately and quickly to achieve its mission,” he added.

Kim also used his speech to give warnings to Washington.

“The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is thoroughly prepared to deal with any military conflict with the United States,” Kim said, referring to the North by its official name.

“If the United States continues to undermine our country’s image and severely violate our safety and fundamental interests, it will have to endure greater anxiety and crisis,” he warned.

Kim criticized joint military exercises by Seoul and Washington, arguing that such drills were hypocritical for nations that oppose the North’s weapons tests.

“The double standard of the United States, which misleadingly labels all of our daily actions as provocations and threats while holding large-scale joint exercises that seriously threaten our national security, is literally thug-like behavior that pushes North Korea-U.S. relations to conflict and to a point of no return,” he said.

Pyongyang frequently criticizes the joint exercises, calling them a rehearsal for an invasion of North Korea.

While former President Moon Jae-in’s administration repeatedly postponed and scaled down joint exercises to avoid angering the North, Yoon’s government agreed to stage full-fledged joint military exercises with the United States for the first time in four years between late August and early September.

South Korea's presidential office responded to Kim's speech by expressing “regret” that he had threatened Seoul.

“We maintain a stance of constant readiness for any provocation,” presidential spokesperson Kang In-sun said Thursday afternoon. “We will defend the [South Korean] people with a strong South Korea-U.S. alliance.”

Kang called on North Korea “to walk the path to real denuclearization and peace.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]