North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has launched a strong verbal attack on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol following Yoon’s warning regarding North Korea’s nuclear capabilities during a speech commemorating South Korea’s Armed Forces Day.
According to the state-run propaganda media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on October 4, local time, Kim criticized Yoon, questioning his mental stability by stating, “Puppet Yoon bragged about overwhelming counteraction of military muscle at the doorstep of the state possessed of nuclear weapons and it was a great irony that caused the suspicion of being an abnormal man.”
Kim added, “Yoon showed the security uneasiness and irritating psychology of the puppet forces. Through such coarse address, he made a bluff of ‘resolute and overwhelming response of the ROK-U.S. alliance’ and the ‘end of regime’, clamoring about the character of the ROK-U.S. alliance based on nuclear weapons, and fully betrayed the bellicose temerity.”
Kim argued that if the enemy, seized with extreme foolishness and recklessness, attempt to use armed forces encroaching upon the sovereignty of the DPRK, full of excessive “confidence” in the ROK-U.S. alliance in disregard of our repeated warnings, the DPRK would use without hesitation all the offensive forces it has possessed, including nuclear weapons.
This marked the first time Kim had directly targeted President Yoon by name in over two years, since a speech made during North Korea’s Victory Day celebrations in July 2022. In his recent comments, Kim made it clear that he remembers Yoon’s “reckless remarks and disgraceful actions both before and after taking office.”
His sister Kim Yo-jong also criticized South Korea’s recent Armed Forces Day celebrations held on October 1, calling them a “trivial spectacle” and a “futile clown show.”
She also condemned the unveiling of South Korea’s Hyunmoo-5 missile, which targets North Korean underground bunkers, describing it as a “useless, oversized weapon.” Kim made these remarks in a statement on October 3.
“Amid the U.S. B-1B strategic bomber flying over Seoul, the military chief of the ROK and his stooges and the three services of the puppet armed forces were courteously lining up to pay regards to it,” she said. “The scene was so pitiful to see alone. It may be unique in the world military parade history and the best scene that can be produced only in the colonial ROK.”
She added, “The puppets put on the stage an odd monster called Hyunmooo-5 ballistic missile, embellished with absurd sophism that it is little short of a tactical nuclear weapon class as its warhead weights eight tons.”
She questioned why would someone make such a “huge cart” for the launch of merely eight-ton warhead and argued that the launching capacity of our one multiple rocket launcher, which is not equal to half the size of the “deformed cart”, is calculated to be equal to 900 tons of explosive power in terms of the explosive capacity of a conventional warhead.
“If a man has a certain degree of common sense, he could not talk about the ‘end of regime’ of someone with a weapon of worthless large bulk,” she added.
On October 1, South Korean President Yoon said, “If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the ROK-U.S. alliance. That day will be the end of the North Korean regime.”
BY YOUNGNAM KIM [kim.youngnam@koreadaily.com]
