Seoul, South Korea: North Korea is seeking an “equilibrium” of military force with the United States, state media reported Saturday, after Pyongyang sparked global condemnation with a sixth nuclear test then fired a second missile over Japan in less than a month.
The North’s leader Kim Jong-Un said the country was close to the goal of completing their nuclear force and should use all state power to finish as they have “nearly reached the terminal”, the official KCNA news agency reported.
“Our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military option for the DPRK,” Kim Jong-Un said, according to the KCNA report.
North Korea on Friday fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan that landed in the Pacific, responding to new UN sanctions with its furthest-ever missile flight.
The launch came days after the UN Security Council slapped fresh sanctions on the isolated country in response to the their sixth nuclear test on September 3.
North Korea’s leader said that Friday’s Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile fired over Japan had been successful and had increased the North’s “combat power of the nuclear force”, KCNA said.
“We should clearly show the big power chauvinists how our state attain the goal of completing its nuclear force despite their limitless sanctions and blockade,” Jong-Un said, according to KCNA.
The North has raised global tensions with its rapid progress in weapons technology under leader Kim Jong-Un, who is regularly pictured by state media overseeing launches and visiting facilities.
The North’s last missile launch, a Hwasong-12 IRBM just over two weeks ago, also overflew Japan’s main islands and was the first to do so for years.
–AFP