Kim Jong-un says he’s ready to fight US, ‘eliminate’ South Korea

Bloomberg

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 towards 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.
“The South Korean regime and its military thugs are devising tactics to confront us militarily,” Kim said of a potential preemptive strike. “Such a dangerous attempt will be immediately punished by our powerful force, and the Yoon Suk Yeol regime and his army will be eliminated.”
The comments marked the first time in North Korea’s state media that Kim referred to Yoon by name.
Yoon’s office in a statement expressed “deep regret” over the comments, adding South Korea was ready to respond to provocations from its neighbor. It also urged Pyongyang to return to nuclear disarmament talks that have been stalled for about four years. Kim has been stepping up his provocations this year while US attention has been diverted toward Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by firing off a record number of ballistic missiles.