North Korea Koreas TensionsFILE - This photo provided by the North Korean government shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a parliament in Pyongyang, North Korea, Sept. 8, 2022. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea warned Tuesday North Korea that using its nuclear weapons would put it on a “path of self-destruction,” in unusually harsh language that came days after North Korea legislated a new law that would allow it to use its nuclear weapons preemptively.
North Korea will likely be infuriated by the South Korean rhetoric as Seoul typically shuns such strong words to avoid raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said the legislation would only deepen North Korea's isolation and prompt Seoul and Washington to “further strengthen their deterrence and reaction capacities.”
To get North Korea not to use its nuclear weapons, the ministry said South Korea will sharply boost its own preemptive attack, missile defense and massive retaliation capacities while seeking a greater U.S. security commitment to defend its ally South Korea with all available capabilities, including nuclear one.
“We warn that the North Korean government would face the overwhelming response by the South Korea-U.S. military alliance and go on the path of self-destruction, if it attempts to use nuclear weapons,” Moon Hong Sik, an acting ministry spokesperson, told reporters.
Last week, North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament adopted the legislation on the governing rules of its nuclear arsenal. The legislation would allow North Korea to use its nuclear weapons if its leadership face an imminent attack or if it aims to prevent an unspecified “catastrophic crisis” to its people.
The loose wording raised concerns the rules are largely meant as a legal basis to use its nuclear weapons pre-emptively to intimidate its rivals into making concessions amid long-stalled diplomacy on its weapons arsenal.
During the parliament’s meeting, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a speech that his country will never abandon its nuclear weapons it needs to cope with U.S. threats. He accused the United States of pushing to weaken the North’s defenses and eventually collapse his government.