North Korea’s Kim again threatens to use nuclear weapons against South Korea and US

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned again that he could use nuclear weapons in potential conflicts with South Korea and the United States, as he accused them of provoking North Korea and raising animosities on the Korean Peninsula, state media reported Tuesday.

Kim has issued similar threats to use nuclear weapons preemptively numerous times, but his latest warning came as outside experts say North Korea could ramp up hostilities ahead of next month’s U.S. presidential election.

In a Monday speech at a university named after him, the Kim Jong Un University of National Defense, he said that North Korea “will without hesitation use all its attack capabilities against its enemies” if they attempt to use armed forces” against North Korea, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

“The use of nuclear weapons is not ruled out in this case,” he said.

Kim said North Korea’s nuclear response posture must be fully enhanced because South Korea and the United States are pushing to beef up their military alliance based on joint nuclear and strategic planning, a move that he said would increase the danger of breaking the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim apparently refers to the new South Korea-U.S. deterrence guideline that the two countries signed in July to integrate South Korean conventional capabilities with U.S. nuclear weapons to better deal with North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats. South Korea has no nuclear weapons.

Since adopting an aggressive nuclear doctrine in 2022, North Korea has repeatedly vowed to use nuclear weapons first if it perceives the leadership in Pyongyang as under threat. But many experts question if North Korea could really do so because its