France 24<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After a year dominated by fiery rhetoric and escalating tensions over\u00a0North Korea<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0nuclear weapons<\/a>\u00a0programme,\u00a0Kim\u00a0<\/a>used his televised New Year\u2019s Day speech to call for lower military tensions on the Korean peninsula and improved ties with the South.<\/p>\n “When it comes to North-South relations, we should lower the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula to create a peaceful environment,” Kim said. “Both the North and the South should make efforts.”<\/p>\n Kim said he will consider sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics Games to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in February.<\/p>\n “North Korea\u2019s participation in the Winter Games will be a good opportunity to show unity of the people and we wish the Games will be a success. Officials from the two Koreas may urgently meet to discuss the possibility,” Kim said.<\/p>\n South Korean President Moon Jae-in has said North Korea\u2019s participation will ensure safety of the Pyeongchang Olympics and proposed last month that Seoul and Washington postpone large military drills that the North denounces as a rehearsal for war until after the Games.<\/p>\n Rather than encouraging U.S. measures that “threaten the security and peace of the Korean peninsula,” Seoul should instead respond to overtures from the North, Kim said.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Moon\u2019s office said they were still reviewing Kim\u2019s New Year\u2019s Day speech.<\/p>\n Asked by reporters to comment on Kim\u2019s speech, U.S. President Donald Trump simply said “we\u2019ll see, we\u2019ll see”, as he walked into New Year\u2019s eve celebrations at Mar-a-Lago, his elite resort in Florida.<\/p>\n The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Kim\u2019s New Year\u2019s address.<\/p>\n “Reality, not a threat”<\/strong><\/p>\n North Korea tested intercontinental ballistic missiles and conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September in defiance of international warnings and sanctions, raising fears of a new conflict on the Korean peninsula.<\/p>\n After testing what Pyongyang said was its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), capable of delivering a warhead to anywhere in the continental United States, at the end of November, Kim declared his nuclear force complete.<\/p>\n He continued that theme in his New Year\u2019s address, announcing that North Korea would focus on “mass producing nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles for operational deployment” in the coming year.<\/p>\n This, Kim said, made it impossible for the United States to start a war against North Korea.<\/p>\n “The entire United States is within range of our nuclear weapons, and a nuclear button is always on my desk. This is reality, not a threat,” he said, while emphasising that “these weapons will be used only if our security is threatened.”<\/p>\n Kim\u2019s customary New Year\u2019s speech is closely watched for indications of the policy direction the unpredictable and reclusive leader is likely to pursue in the coming year.<\/p>\n Beyond listing military accomplishments, Kim also outlined economic gains as part of his two-pronged policy of developing his country\u2019s economy and military.<\/p>\n Despite increased international sanctions imposed over the weapons programme, North Korea made progress in areas like fabrics, shoes and tractors, Kim said.<\/p>\n While Kim is keen to declare his weapons programme a success, he is unlikely to completely end his contentious testing regime, said Scott LaFoy, a ballistic missile analyst at the website NK Pro, which monitors North Korea.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m still very skeptical of the \u2018complete\u2019 thing they\u2019ve been talking about, if only because we\u2019ve seen so much activity in regards to the submarine launched ballistic missile programme,” he said. “I think a slowdown (in testing) is very realistic, though.”<\/p>\n Kim seems likely to tone down his weapons testing at least ahead of the Olympics, said Nam Sung-wook, a North Korea expert at Korea University in Seoul.<\/p>\n “What North Korea is most afraid of is being forgotten in the international arena,” he said. “Without launching missiles and conducting a nuclear test, North Korea will be in the spotlight just by attending the Winter Olympics.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" France 24 Kim Jong Un on Monday warned the United States that he has a “nuclear button” on his desk ready for use if North Korea is threatened, but offered an olive branch to South Korea, saying he was “open to dialogue” with Seoul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[99,41,98],"class_list":["post-1141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-north-korea","tag-nuclear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1142,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions\/1142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}