North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned that his country will not hesitate to launch a nuclear attack if it is “provoked with nuclear weapons,” state media reported Thursday.

Kim’s comments came after a meeting last week South Korea And USA in Washington, where they discussed nuclear deterrence in the event of a conflict with the North.

The meeting’s agenda included “nuclear and strategic planning,” and the allies reaffirmed that any nuclear attack by Pyongyang on the United States and South Korea would result in the end of the North Korean regime.

But Kim told his military’s missile bureau “not to hesitate to launch even a nuclear strike if the enemy provokes it with nuclear weapons,” the official news agency reported Thursday. KCNA.

Washington, Seoul and Tokyo later issued a statement urging the North to “stop provocations and accept our call to participate in a substantive dialogue without conditions”.

The three countries have stepped up military cooperation in light of North Korea’s wave of nuclear tests this year, activating a system on Tuesday to share real-time information on North Korean missile launches.

The North launched its most powerful ballistic missile, the Hwasong-18, on Monday, calling it “a cautionary countermeasureIn light of what he called acts of “military threat” from Washington and its allies.

“State of War”

Last week, a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine arrived in the South Korean port city of Busan, and on Wednesday the United States deployed long-range bombers to conduct maneuvers with South Korea and Tokyo.

The North recently emphasized that “the Korean Peninsula is in a state of war under the law” and that the “strategic assets” Washington is sending to the South “the first targets of destruction”.

When a nuclear-capable U.S. B-52 bomber took part in its first joint exercise with Seoul and Tokyo in October, the North called the exercise “deliberate provocative actions of nuclear war by the United States”.

Pyongyang sees the maneuvers by the United States and its allies as a rehearsal for an invasion and has justified its numerous missile launches as necessary “countermeasures.”

South Korea’s Defense Ministry has made unusually inflammatory statements lately, warning last week that Pyongyang will face a “hell of destruction‘if he participates in a ‘reckless’ action that ‘destroys the peace’.

North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power last year. and has reiterated that it will never abandon its nuclear program, which the regime considers essential to its survival.

In a separate statement, the leader’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong lashed out at the UN Security Council for convening a session to discuss the latest missile launch. which he defended as an inherent right of the land.

“The incessant military exercises of the United States and its vassal forces (remember) were one of the general preparations for an invasion under the pretext of deterring someone’s threats,” he stated. (JO)