SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
N. Korea leader's sister warns of 'overwhelming nuclear deterrence'
Seoul, July 14 (AFP) Jul 14, 2023
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned on Friday of "overwhelming nuclear deterrence" unless the United States drops what she called its "hostile policy" against Pyongyang, state media reported.

Kim Yo Jong also defended North Korea's latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch as an act of self-defence.

The nuclear-armed state on Wednesday test-fired a solid-fuel missile that flew 1,001 kilometres (622 miles) at a maximum altitude of 6,648 km, before splashing into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.

Its trajectory suggested it was capable of reaching the mainland United States, analysts said.

"Now that the US does not respond to the abandonment of its hostile policy... the DPRK will further put spurs to building up the most overwhelming nuclear deterrence," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

DPRK refers to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The launch was Pyongyang's exercise of "self-defence to defend the Korean peninsula and the Asia-Pacific region from the disaster of a nuclear war", she said, adding that no one could blame the North in the face of Washington's "hostile policy".

She went on to rail against the United Nations Security Council for its response to the launch.

In a joint statement, 10 of the Security Council's 15 members including South Korea condemned the latest test and noted that the North's 20 launches of ballistic missiles in 2023 were "all blatant violations of multiple Security Council resolutions".

Kim Yo Jong slammed the statement, saying it was "unfair and prejudiced".

Earlier this week she accused US military surveillance jets of breaching North Korean airspace, warning that they could be shot down.

In response to the North's string of missile launches this year, Seoul and Washington have ramped up security cooperation, vowing that Pyongyang would face a nuclear response were it to ever use its nuclear weapons against the allies.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
AI systems proposed to boost launch cadence reliability and traffic management
China debuts Long March 12A reusable rocket in Jiuquan test flight
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4750-4762: See You on the Other Side of the Sun

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Redesigned carbon framework boosts battery safety and power
Molecular catalyst switches between hydrogen and oxygen production
Project Pele microreactor reaches key milestone with first TRISO fuel delivery

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
SDA expands Tracking Layer satellite awards and related missile defense contracts
Space Systems Command activates System Delta 80 for assured space access
Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions to provide SAR reconnaissance data to German military

24/7 News Coverage
OPERA satellite data sharpens US crop and water management
Alen Space begins SATMAR satellite validation over Bay of Algeciras
Deep Arctic gas hydrate mounds host ultra deep cold seep ecosystem



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.