North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has promised to use nuclear weapons to counter threats from the United States hours after test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICMB), the latest escalation as the UN Security Council prepares to convene an emergency session on Pyongyang’s actions.
According to international media, the United Nations Security Council, at the behest of Japan, South Korea and the US will gather on Monday to discuss North Korea’s latest missile launch.
North Korea test-fired what it said was a Hwasong-17 ICBM, which can travel up to 15,000 km (9,320 miles), on Friday shortly after warning of “fiercer military responses” to Washington.
“Kim Jong Un solemnly declared that if the enemies continue to pose threats our party and government will resolutely react to nukes with nuclear weapons and to total confrontation with all-out confrontation,”
North Korea has long defended its launch of ballistic missiles as a legitimate defence against what it calls a decades-old threat from US military forces and its allies in South Korea.
