America’s enemies are moving. They could strike at any moment.
And one nuclear threat just put the Pentagon at DEFCON-1.
North Korean Communist dictator Kim Jong Un stated through state media on Wednesday that an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch was required to “clearly show what action the DPRK [North Korea] has been prepared for and what option the DPRK would take if Washington makes a wrong decision against it.”
Kim’s statements were paraphrased in an article published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North Korean regime’s main propaganda agency. In North Korea, independent news outlets and media are outlawed.
KCNA acknowledged in the story that the launch of a long-range missile into the East Sea (or Sea of Japan) on Monday was an ICBM test, describing the missile as the “Hwasong-18,” North Korea’s most recent publicly recognized model.
Pyongyang unveiled the Hwasong-18 in July, claiming that missile could hit a target with a nuclear payload anywhere in the continental United States.
North Korea launched the ICBM on the same day that it boasted of Deputy Foreign Minister Pak Myong Ho’s visit to Beijing, during which Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi supposedly received him warmly and assured that the Chinese Communist Party will continue to support the neighboring rogue government.
“In a world fraught with change and instability, China and the DPRK [North Korea] have firmly supported and trusted each other, which demonstrates the strategic significance of China-DPRK friendship and cooperation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Monday.
“We would like to work with the DPRK to enhance communication and coordination, deepen exchanges and cooperation in various areas … and advance the sustained and steady growth of China-DPRK friendship and cooperation.”
The decision to launch the ICBM was attributed to defense cooperation between South Korea, the United States, and Japan in order to follow North Korea’s unlawful nuclear weapons program, according to KCNA.
North and South Korea are technically at war, which began in 1950, but active hostilities stopped in 1953. China and the United States are both involved in the Korean War as allies on opposing sides.
“The present situation clearly shows the inveterate confrontation stand of the U.S. and its predominant stooges keen on their unchangeable instinctive and constitutional ambition for aggression,” KCNA claimed in its commentary, “and predicts a black augury of total destruction of the security environment in the Korean peninsula to be further aggravated.”
In the face of a “black augury of total destruction,” Kim authorized the missile launch to make the U.S. aware that he was willing to use nuclear weapons against America, according to KCNA.
“Under the decision of the WPK Central Military Commission on neutralizing the enemies’ intentional and premeditated confrontational military threats with our strong behavioral warning,” it explained, “a drill of launching ICBM Hwasongpho-18 was staged as an important military action to clearly show the DPRK’s nuclear strategic forces’ overwhelming counteraction will and matchless strength to the enemies.”
The ICBM launch was claimed by North Korea as a “drill” to ensure “the combat readiness of the DPRK’s nuclear war deterrence.”
It was also stated that Kim was present and guided the missile launch. He is said to have expressed “great satisfaction” with the test.
“Noting that it was an occasion to clearly show what action the DPRK has been prepared and what option the DPRK would take when Washington makes a wrong decision against it,” the outlet reported, “he appreciated that the drill once again and strikingly displayed the DPRK’s will for toughest counteraction and its overwhelming strength.”
The ICBM launch is the latest in a series of provocations by North Korea, which Washington has mostly ignored under Democratic President Joe Biden.
Pyongyang declared in November that it had successfully launched a spy satellite to monitor the United States, following two previous failed attempts. KCNA claimed that the satellite was photographing the White House, the Pentagon, and other vital places, but provided no evidence.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
