Skip to content

Kim Jong Un Says He’s Ready to Fight US, ‘Eliminate’ South Korea

  • Kim delivers strong rhetorical attacks against new president
  • North Korea prepares for its first nuclear test since 2017
Kim Jong-Un seen on a television at the Seoul Railway Station in June.
Kim Jong-Un seen on a television at the Seoul Railway Station in June.Photographer: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images 
Updated on

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to “eliminate” South Korea and said he was ready for any battle with the US in a speech to mark the 69th anniversary of the deal that ended fighting in the Korean War.

Kim, making his first appearance in public in nearly three weeks, delivered one of his strongest rhetorical attacks against South Korea since conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol took office in May and pledged to take a tough line toward Pyongyang. The North Korean leader said that “US imperialists are pushing the South Korean authorities into a suicidal confrontation” with his country, the state’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.