Per our June 2nd posting, North Korea has begun to ratchet up its rhetoric in advance of the anticipated succession of Kim Jong-un to the leadership of the DPRK; the chief rationalisation seeming to be that any leader of the insular communist regime must be tried by fire.
In its latest round of hostile hyperbole (as reported by the Korean Central News Agency – KCNA) it was declared that the nation’s growing nuclear arsenal would be wielded as a “merciless offensive means to deal a just retaliatory strike to those who touch the country’s dignity and sovereignty even a bit.”
(Even a bit? C’mon, Mr. Kim. By that standard, you’d certainly have to nuke yourself, personally. And maybe more than once! — Ed.)
It was the first time that North Korea’s nuclear arms have been portrayed as “offensive” in nature by its official news agency.
More details on Jong-un’s rise (including acknowledgement of that apparent fact by his eldest brother) and the DPRK’s most recent threats are available in this linked TimesOnline article.
Read about some little-known DPRK nuclear developments
in the following stories from our recent archives:
Sum Yung Sun Rises, in the North
JUNE 2, 2009 Watch for Kim Jong-il to create a ‘defining moment’ to mark his youngest son’s anticipated ascendancy…
The Syrian ex-Nuclear Site
MAY 31, 2009 The following is a collection of images taken during (and after) the construction of the Syrian facility bombed by Israeli commandos on September 6, 2007. […]
Exactly 55 Years, 10 Months
MAY 27, 2009 Fifty-five years and ten months. That’s precisely how long the Korean Armistice lasted. […]
DPRK: N-Test, Take X
MAY 25, 2009 The UN Security Council has unanimously condemned North Korea’s latest nuclear firing test, which everyone seems to be assuming is their second such detonation. That might not be the case…
DPRK: N-Test, Take 2
APRIL 27, 2009 It was early October, 2006. Overhead, satellites skimmed the sky above the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and took careful note of the goings-on below.
On the ground, as well as far beneath it, technicians busily prepared for North Korea’s highly-anticipated, first nuclear weapons test – an event that was confirmed in dramatic fashion on October 9th, when it appeared on one of the seismographs I was monitoring…
imahd.ca 
North Voids Armistice; US and South conduct military exercises http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/11/world/asia/south-korea-military-exercises/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
North Korea moves to void armistice agreement and threatens nuclear war
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/dprk/2013/dprk-130307-kcna01.htm
North Korea preps for 2 more tests http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9846447/North-Korea-preparing-for-two-nuclear-tests.html
REPORT: NKorea providing nuke tech to Iran, Syria
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/10/security-council-gets-north-korea-nuke-report/
Pingback: Kim Jong-un Dubbed ‘Brilliant Comrade’ «
Pingback: The Eager Sanction «