North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un apparently missed the international attention he gets when he issues blood-curdling warnings about using his nuclear weapons against South Korea or the United States. While you, me, and everyone else knows he’s just bluffing, the militaries of the U.S. and South Korea can’t afford to ignore the threat.
So on the 69th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, Kim gave a bombastic speech that alternated between threats and whines about how the U.S. mistreats North Korea.
“Our armed forces are completely prepared to respond to any crisis, and our country’s nuclear war deterrent is also ready to mobilize its absolute power dutifully, exactly, and swiftly in accordance with its mission,” Kim said in Wednesday’s speech, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
He accused the United States of “demonizing” North Korea, and he said that joint military exercises with South Korea and the U.S. highlight U.S. “double standards” and “gangster-like” aspects because it names North Korea’s “routine military activities” — an apparent reference to its missile tests — as provocations or threats.
Kim also alleged the new South Korean government of President Yoon Suk Yeol is led by “confrontation maniacs” and “gangsters” who have gone further than previous South Korean conservative governments. Since taking office in May, the Yoon government has moved to strengthen Seoul’s military alliance with the United States and bolster its own capacity to neutralize North Korean nuclear threats including a preemptive strike capability.
“Talking about military action against our nation, which possesses absolute weapons that they fear the most, is preposterous and is very dangerous suicidal action,” Kim said. “Such a dangerous attempt will be immediately punished by our powerful strength and the Yoon Suk Yeol government and his military will be annihilated.”
Behind the fire-eating words is the fact that North Korea is a failed state. And Kim may have begun to fear for his position as Supreme Leader. Whispers about Kim’s leadership were bound to begin.
Kim recently called his government’s response to the pandemic “immature.” He said in a speech to the politburo that the “immaturity in the state’s capacity for coping with the crisis” increased the “complexity and hardships” in fighting the pandemic, according to KCNA.
It’s believed that North Korea is on the verge of another famine at the same time that it’s dealing with a serious COVID outbreak. And it’s preparing for another nuclear test — the first since 2017.
But Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said North Korea won’t likely conduct its nuclear test before China, its major ally and biggest aid benefactor, holds its Communist Party convention in the autumn. He said China worries that a North Korean nuclear test could give the United States a justification to boost its security partnerships with its allies that it could use to check Chinese influence in the region.
North Korea recently said it is moving to overcome the COVID-19 outbreak amid plummeting fever cases, but experts say it’s unclear if the country can lift its strict restrictions soon because it could face a viral resurgence later this year. During Wednesday’s event, Kim, veterans and others didn’t wear masks, state media photos showed. On Thursday, North Korea reported 11 fever cases, a huge drop from the peak of about 400,000 a day in May.
China has been propping up North Korea in order to avoid a refugee crisis that could overwhelm its long border with the North. But with another famine looming, China may not have the food resources to cover North Korea’s huge deficit.
It may be a very long winter in North Korea this year.
