war: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un threatens to destroy South Korea with nuclear weapons if provoked

North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un threatened to use nuclear weapons to destroy his rival and neighbour South Korea if attacked, state media reported Friday, October 4, after South Korea’s president warned that if the North used nuclear weapons it would “face the end of its regime.”

The fiery rhetoric comes at a time of tension on the Korean Peninsula and just weeks after North Korean state media released images of Kim visiting a uranium enrichment facility, which produces weapons-grade nuclear materials.

While touring an army base in the western part of the country on Wednesday, Kim said if the South were to disrespect the North’s sovereignty, Pyongyang “would use without hesitation all the offensive forces it has possessed, including nuclear weapons,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.

“If such a situation comes, the permanent existence of Seoul and the Republic of Korea would be impossible,” Kim added, using the proper name for South Korea.

Hostilities between the two Korean countries have been simmering this year as North Korea has appeared to have intensified its nuclear production efforts and strengthened ties with Russia, deepening widespread concern in the West over the isolated nation’s direction.

Kim’s comments appeared to come in direct response to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who on Tuesday showcased Seoul’s most powerful ballistic missile and other weapons designed to deter North Korean threats during a parade for Armed Forces Day.

Yoon unveiled the Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile, which is reportedly capable of penetrating North Korean underground bunkers.

“If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the SK-US alliance,” Yoon said, in reference to the United States as the country’s key military partner. “The North Korean regime must now break free from the delusion that nuclear weapons will protect them.”

North and South Korea have been separated from each other since the end of the Korean War in 1953, which concluded with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the two sides still technically at war.

Last month, North Korean state media released photos of Kim Jong UN purportedly touring a nuclear facility in a rare glimpse of the nation’s closely guarded weapons program.