Kim Jong-un vows North Korea will NEVER stop stockpiling nukes and threatens US with its ‘final doom’ – as fearsome nuclear arsenal is paraded on state TV
KIM Jong-un today vowed never to stop his bid for nuclear weapons before predicting America's "final doom".
The war of words over North Korea's latest missile test continued to rumble on into this evening as Pyongyang issued a fiery statement of defiance.
North Korea state media said the nation "can never stop bolstering up the nuclear deterrent".
And added that "no one can guess when a nuclear war may break out".
The statement from Kim's mouthpiece added: "The USA's more persistent moves to launch a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula would precipitate its final doom."
Tonight, state TV revealed new images of Tuesday morning's missile launch, with Kim seen inspecting his nuclear arsenal.
Donald Trump's tone towards his nation's upstart rival was scarcely more diplomatic.
The President tweeted: "The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!"
Overnight Kim vowed to fire more missiles as pictures emerged of the despot cackling maniacally as he over saw the launch described as "just a curtain-raiser".
Just one day after his latest launch brought his country and American one step closer to war the smirking communist called for more weapons testing over the Pacific to advance his country's ability to contain Guam.
State media reported that the dictator had said: "The current ballistic rocket launching drill like a real war is the first step of the military operation of the Korean People's Army in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam."
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, mouthpiece of the North's ruling party, on Wednesday carried more than 20 pictures of the launch near Pyongyang.
One showed Kim smiling broadly at a desk with a map of the Northwest Pacific, surrounded by aides.
The fiery outburst came as the UN Security Council - which includes Russia and Kim's key ally China - unanimously condemned the "outrageous" launch.
A forceful UN statement agreed in the earlier hours of this morning saw Beijing fall in line with the US and Europe in condemning Kim's latest act of sabre rattling.
It accused the regime of "undermining regional peace and stability".
Yet while nervous diplomats discussed the crisis in New York, Kim was already firing off his latest salvo in the war of words between him and Washington.
He labelled yesterday's show of force, which saw a rocket fly over Japan, as a "meaningful prelude" to containing Guam - America's Pacific military base.
Kim threatened to unleash his arsenal on the US island earlier this month.
The statement added there would be "more ballistic rocket launching drills with the Pacific as a target in the future".
Last night pictures were released of the tyrant watching over the launch of his Hwasong-12 missile.
A giggling Kim was pictured watching the take-off from a desk alongside several of his generals.
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The war of words between Pyongyang and Washington continued to ratchet up yesterday as North Korea told Trump it won't "flinch an inch".
The US responded by telling Kim's regime "enough is enough" after a missile test flew over the Japanese mainland early yesterday morning.
Washington's ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, speaking before an emergency session in New York, said: "I think enough is enough.
"No country should have missiles flying over them like those 130 million people in Japan."
Earlier Trump declared "we've heard North Korea's message loud and clear" after Kim Jong-un launched a ballistic missile over a panicked Japan.
He added that "all options are on the table" for dealing with the rogue nuclear state and that the actions "only increase the North Korean regime's isolation".
South Korea also retaliated by threatening to "exterminate" the Kim as it bombed the North's border in a show of "overwhelming force".
Haley added "something serious has to happen" as tensions reached boiling point, with Kim threatening "catastrophic consequences" after F-15K fighter jets from the South dropped eight MK-84 bombs on targets at a military field.
South Korea's President Moon Jae ordered the show of "overwhelming" force against Pyongyang as he admitted UN sanctions on North Korea are failing to keep the despot in line.
Fears of World War Three were provoked yesterday following the firing of the missile, which was powerful enough to carry a nuke over the Empire of the Sun.
The rocket flew 1,700 miles, soaring over the northern Hokkaido island of Japan and crashing into the Pacific 700 miles beyond the coast.
Millions of Japanese were woken by text messages urging them to seek cover as the nightmare unfolded.
Loudspeakers broadcast the news in the streets and railway stations while TV and radio issued warnings.
It was feared to be the secretive state’s first test-fire of a missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.
The rocket is believed to have been fired over Japan because it is on the path towards the US Pacific territory of Guam, which Jong-un threatened to attack two weeks ago. It fell short of Guam by 400 miles.
Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe said: “North Korea’s reckless action is unprecedented, serious and a grave threat to our nation.”
After he spoke to Mr Trump, the White House revealed the two leaders agreed North Korea posed a “grave and growing threat”.
PM Theresa May refused to abandon a three-day trade mission to Japan overshadowed by the global crisis.
And she pledged support for harsher punishment for Jong-un at the UN.
Mrs May has been told if the 10-minute warning rings out during her visit, she should follow a "duck and cover" drill, according to The Times.
She will spend a significant part of her time in Japan discussing the problem of North Korea with the country's PM.
Mrs May said: "It gives me the opportunity to sit down with Prime Minister Abe to discuss the action that North Korea has taken.
"These are illegal tests, we strongly condemn them and we will be working with Japan and other international partners to ensure that pressure is put on North Korea to stop this illegal action.”
In a show of strength hours after the launch, South Korean war jets dropped 84 bombs on a target range near the border with the North.
China warned tensions had reached a “tipping point”.
The Hwasong-12 rocket was launched from near the capital Pyongyang at 6am yesterday Korean time.
Japan and the US both have anti-missile systems in the region but there was no attempt to shoot it down.
He is a bad guy, but no Bond villain
KIM Jong-un is a bad guy, but no Bond villain. Yes, the world is being blackmailed. But no way is he going to actually fire this stuff at South Korea or Japan, let alone the US.
That would be suicidal, and Kim is no fanatic. He enjoys life. Just look at the guy.
Also, still young and green, he needs to prove his mettle to the tough generals around him.
What better way than to forge ahead with weapons of mass destruction (WMD) like dad and grandad before him?
He also loves playing games of brinkmanship. North Korea has long seen the world in Tom and Jerry terms. Wiser past US presidents were less eager to be cast as the big dumb cat. Yes, the missile launches are coming thick and fast, each more provocative than the last.
Recently Kim threatened to lob four toward Guam, which hosts big US air bases. Then he decided not to, for the moment. Donald Trump even thanked him for that, bizarrely.
The latest rocket flew over Japan. Outrageous and reckless, but not a first. His father Kim Jong-il did the same in 1998, and again in 2003.
Why? For good reasons, in their own eyes. Forget the lazy “mad dictator” clichés. Kim knows what he’s doing. Every move is calculated — unlike Trump’s “fire and fury” tweets.
George W Bush put North Korea on his axis of evil — then invaded Iraq, the first country so listed. Iraq, it turned out, had no WMD. But North Korea sure as hell does.
So for all the rhetoric, this is basically about self-defence.
Overflying Japan is a typically cunning move. Nobody loves Japan much. China and Korea (including South Korea) have never forgotten nor forgiven its brutal pre-1945 aggression.
Right-wing premier Shinzo Abe wants to revise Japan’s constitution to have bigger armed forces. Once popular, he is now struggling over scandals involving giving plum jobs to pals.
Kim hopes his missile will weaken Abe further, though there is a risk it may backfire and rekindle support for him.
Why doesn’t China rein in Kim? It could cut off oil and other supplies. Yet China hasn’t consistently enforced UN sanctions for a reason.
All this looks different seen from Beijing. What’s even worse than a nuclear North Korea? A unified Korea, with US bases, right on China’s border. Xi Jinping will never let that happen.
And given how the world is, both Xi and Vladimir Putin are enjoying seeing Trump squirm and flail. Are we on the brink of nuclear Armageddon? Not likely. But it would help if Trump stopped falling into Kim’s traps.
There is no military option. Forget it. Steve Bannon, Trump’s sacked strategy director, summed this up: “They got us.”
As Bannon noted, any US strike on North Korea would prompt the Korean People’s Army to retaliate by raining fire on South Korea — which America is supposed to be protecting, not endangering.
Greater Seoul, where 24million live in high-rises, is within artillery range of the border — never mind missiles.
What’s the alternative? It’s simple, if unpalatable. Kim wants recognition as a nuclear power. That sticks in many craws, but it’s a fact.
Like India and Pakistan, North Korea has the bomb and the means to deliver it. We can’t put our heads in the sand. Prevention has failed.
As Winston Churchill said, jaw-jaw is better than war-war.
Diplomacy is the only option left. Fake macho posturing from Washington solves nothing.
The nuclear genie is out of the bottle, like it or not.
On a good day Trump has said he could talk to Kim, over a hamburger. Time to light that barbecue. Better than lighting the nuclear touchpaper.
By Aidan Foster-Carter
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