Kim calls South Korea a principal enemy as his rhetoric sharpens in a US election year

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called South Korea “our principal enemy” and threatened to annihilate it if provoked, as he escalates his inflammatory, belligerent rhetoric against Seoul and the United States before their elections this year.

Experts say Kim will likely further raise animosities with weapons tests to try to influence the results of South Korea’s parliamentary elections in April and the U.S. presidential election in November.

Kim made the remarks during inspection tours of munitions factories in North Korea this week, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday.

He said North Korea’s priority in its relations with Seoul “is to bolster up the military capabilities for self-defense and the nuclear war deterrent first of all,” KCNA said.

If South Korea dares to use his military force against North Korea and threaten its sovereignty, Kim said “We will have no hesitation in annihilating (South Korea) by mobilizing all means and forces in our hands,” according to KCNA.

He has made similar such threats recently, and analysts say Kim likely hopes South Korean liberals seeking reconciliation with North Korea win the April elections. They believe Kim also thinks he can win U.S. concessions if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House. Kim and Trump met three times as part of high-stakes nuclear diplomacy in 2018-19.

Some observers say possible North Korean provocations could trigger accidental, limited armed clashes between the two Koreas along their heavily armed border.

Last Friday, North Korea fired artillery shells near the disputed western sea boundary with South Korea, prompting South Korea to stage its own firing drills in the same area in response.