North Korea said the risk of conflict with South Korea will peak in 2024, while criticizing Seoul's recent military exercises.
"The aggressors such as the US and Japan will invade the peninsula at the call of the South Korean puppet groups. They are highly likely to make unprecedented war provocations such as a nuclear strike," the North's central news agency KCNA said today.
KCNA warned that the risk of conflict would be at its highest this year and that South Korea would face "unimaginable pain" if it continued to take actions against North Korea.
The warning comes as South Korea's army and navy have recently stepped up live-fire drills near the border with North Korea to bolster their defense capabilities. Pyongyang has condemned the moves as Seoul's "self-destruction".
A K9 self-propelled howitzer fires during a live-fire drill by the South Korean military in Hwacheon County, 89 kilometers northeast of Seoul, on January 2. Photo: Yonhap
Tensions between the two Koreas have escalated on the Korean Peninsula, as Pyongyang continues to test missiles and Seoul and Washington step up military cooperation. North Korea has repeatedly criticized joint US-South Korea military exercises, viewing them as evidence of the alliance's hostile stance and a drive for regime change in Pyongyang. Seoul and Washington say the exercises are purely defensive in nature.
At the ruling Workers' Party's 2023 year-end meeting, leader Kim Jong-un described North Korea-South Korea relations as "two hostile countries" and ordered the military to be ready to mobilize the greatest strength to defend the country in the scenario of a military confrontation "that could happen at any moment" in 2024.
Meanwhile, South Korea warned on January 1 that North Korea would face a destructive scenario if it took provocative and reckless actions.
North Korea, South Korea and surrounding areas. Graphic: CSIS
Nhu Tam (According to Yonhap, KCNA, AFP )
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