Kim Jong boasts of nukes amid stalled talks with US
Seoul, July 28
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un said his country’s hard-won nuclear weapons were a solid security guarantee and a “reliable, effective” deterrent that could prevent a second Korean War, state media reported Tuesday.
Kim’s comments before war veterans marking the 67th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War again show he has no intention of abandoning his weapons as prospects dim for resuming diplomacy with the United States. Kim said in his speech on Monday that his country had tried to become “a nuclear state” with “an absolute might” to prevent another war and that it has now built such a deterrent.
Kim’s speech followed recent remarks by both North Korean and US officials suggesting they were reluctant to engage in a new round of diplomacy on the North’s nuclear program anytime soon. —AP
