In the submarine dispute with the US: North Korea threatens to use nuclear weapons

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North Korea has threatened to use nuclear weapons after it stationed a US Navy submarine in South Korea. The “increasing visibility of the deployment of (…) strategic capabilities,” including the deployment of the US nuclear-armed submarine, could fall under Pyongyang’s “conditions for the use of nuclear weapons,” North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam said Thursday, according to the North Korean state news agency KCNA.

Kang described the submarine deployment as the “most egregious and direct nuclear threat” to his country “in 40 years”. The US armed forces should be “aware that they have entered extremely dangerous waters with their nuclear weapons”.

Relations between North and South Korea are currently at an all-time low. South Korea is one of America’s allies, while communist North Korea counts the United States among its greatest enemies.

Kim Jong Un has repeatedly threatened escalation

On Tuesday, the United States announced that it had stationed a nuclear-capable submarine in South Korea. According to the South Korean military, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday morning – presumably in response.

The previous US deployment of one of its nuclear-capable submarines to South Korea dates back to 1981. Washington signed an agreement with Seoul in April to bolster South Korea’s nuclear shield.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (39) has repeatedly threatened military escalation in the region and has announced that he will expand his own nuclear arsenal “exponentially”. Washington and Seoul have therefore been warning for months that North Korea could carry out a nuclear weapon test in the near future. It would be the first such test since 2017. (SDA)

Source: Blick