North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says “never before” has the threat of a nuclear war been greater, blaming the US for its “aggressive and hostile” policy towards Pyongyang.
“Never before have the warring parties on the Korean peninsula faced such a dangerous and acute confrontation that it could escalate into the most destructive thermonuclear war,” he said at a military exhibition yesterday, according to state media KCNA.
He said North Korea has “already gone as far as we can” in its talks with the US, accusing it of having a “thorough stance of power and aggressive and hostile policy towards us that can never change”.
Kim’s comments come amid growing concern over deepening ties between Russia and North Korea, and as we reported earlier, Russia is estimated to have supplied North Korea with more than a million barrels of oil this year in exchange for weapons and troops Pyongyang has sent Moscow to fuel its war in Ukraine.
The US and Ukraine revealed earlier this month that North Korean troops had engaged in combat with Ukrainian soldiers for the first time, and satellite images show Pyongyang receiving oil from Moscow in return.
The number being deployed – originally put at around 11,000 by the Pentagon – has been debated. According to Bloomberg, unnamed sources believe Pyongyang may actually deploy as many as 100,000 troops.It’s hard to say how effective these troops have been.
It is widely believed that Noth Korea may have one of the world’s largest militaries, with 1.28 million active soldiers, but – unlike Russia’s military – the Korean People’s Army (KPA) has no recent experience of combat operations.