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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrives at Samjiyeon Airport near Mt. Baekdu, Tuesday. / Yonhap |
By Chung Min-uck
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to triumph over the United States' "hostile policies," calling the situation on the Korean Peninsula "grave."
According to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency, Wednesday, Kim made these comments during a speech to military officers at Mount Baekdu, a symbol of the Kim family's hereditary leadership, Tuesday.
Kim added that the North's military will "thoroughly crush the hostile U.S. policy against the North."
Kim rarely makes public speeches, this being his third this year. A photo of him arriving at Samjiyeon Airport near Mt. Baekdu on an aircraft was also made public.
His comments come days after Pyongyang threatened to carry out another nuclear test in what it called a response to the U.N. Security Council's (UNSC) condemnation of its recent ballistic missile launches.
The council members — including China, North Korea's key ally — agreed the move violated UNSC resolutions that ban all ballistic missile tests by the North.
The North previously test-fired two ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast in response to the ongoing South Korea-U.S. Foal Eagle military exercise.
The two Koreas traded hundreds of rounds of artillery shells and rockets across their disputed western maritime border Monday during the North's pre-announced live-fire artillery drill.
On Tuesday, the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper rejected President Park Geun-hye's call for Pyongyang's denuclearization and preparation for unification.
"The North Korean leader's comments not only factored in the joint Seoul-Washington military exercises, the latest U.N. Human Rights resolutions and UNSC presidential statement, but also deteriorating relations with China and Russia which is further cornering the North on the international stage," said Jang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute of Peace and Unification Studies affiliated with Seoul National University. "The North is in an alarming situation where it can carry out a fourth nuclear test."
North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, drawing international condemnation and U.N. sanctions.