North Korea leader’s sister warns of ‘overwhelming nuclear deterrence’

DPRK refers to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The launch was Pyongyang’s exercise of “self-defence to defend the Korean peninsula and the Asia-Pacific region from the disaster of a nuclear war“, she said, adding that no one could blame the North in the face of Washington’s “hostile policy”.

She went on to rail against the United Nations Security Council for its response to the launch.

In a joint statement, 10 of the Security Council’s 15 members including South Korea condemned the latest test and noted that the North’s 20 launches of ballistic missiles in 2023 were “all blatant violations of multiple Security Council resolutions”.

Kim Yo Jong slammed the statement, saying it was “unfair and prejudiced”.

Earlier this week she accused US military surveillance jets of breaching North Korean airspace, warning that they could be shot down.

In response to the North’s string of missile launches this year, Seoul and Washington have ramped up security cooperation, vowing that Pyongyang would face a nuclear response were it to ever use its nuclear weapons against the allies.