Seoul, Jan 1 (AFP) Kim Jong-Un urged North Korea tomass-produce nuclear warheads and missiles in a defiant NewYear message today suggesting he would continue to acceleratea rogue weapons programme that has stoked internationaltensions.
Pyongyang dramatically ramped up its efforts to become anuclear power in 2017, despite a raft of internationalsanctions and increasingly bellicose rhetoric from the UnitedStates.
Kim, who said today that he always had a nuclear launchbutton on his desk, has presided over multiple missile testsin recent months and the North's sixth and most powerfulnuclear test -- which it said was a hydrogen bomb -- inSeptember.
"We must mass-produce nuclear warheads and ballisticmissiles and speed up their deployment," said Kim in hisannual address to the nation, reiterating his claims thatNorth Korea had achieved its goal of becoming a nuclear state.
The North says its weapons programme is designed to beable to target the US mainland and tested increasinglylonger-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)throughout 2017.
US President Donald Trump has responded to each test withhis own amplified declarations, threatening to "totallydestroy" Pyongyang and taunting Kim, saying the North Koreanleader was on "a suicide mission".
But far from persuading Kim to give up his nuclear drive,analysts say Trump's tough talk may have prompted the NorthKorean leader to drive through with his dangerous quest.
"(The North) can cope with any kind of nuclear threatsfrom the US and has a strong nuclear deterrence that is ableto prevent the US from playing with fire," Kim said today.
"The nuclear button is always on my table. The US mustrealise this is not blackmail but reality."His comments come after a former top US military officerwarned that the United States is now closer than it has everbeen to a nuclear war with the North, with little hope of adiplomatic solution to the crisis.
Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the US joint chiefs ofstaff, said the Trump presidency had helped create "anincredibly dangerous climate", in an interview on ABC's "ThisWeek".
"We're actually closer, in my view, to a nuclear war withNorth Korea and in that region than we have ever been," hesaid.
Pyongyang claims it needs nuclear weapons to protectitself from a hostile US and sees American military activitiesin the region -- such as the joint drills it takes part inwith the South -- as a precursor to invasion.
As tensions spiked in the region in recent months, theinternational community has slapped a range of sanctions onthe North aimed at curbing its weapons programme and squeezingthe country's leadership.
In December the United Nations Security Councilunanimously passed new, US-drafted sanctions to restrict oilsupplies vital for the impoverished state.
The third raft of sanctions imposed last year, which theNorth slammed as an "act of war", also received the backing ofChina -- the North's sole major ally and economic lifeline.
But the embargoes have shown little sign of dampeningKim's enthusiasm for his weapons drive.
Observers say Washington must open talks with the Northto defuse tensions -- but that remains a challenge.
The North has always said it will only deal with the USfrom a position of equality as a nuclear state.
Washington has long insisted that it will not accept anuclear-armed North and Pyongyang must embark on a pathtowards denuclearisation before any talks. (AFP)CHT.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.