In his 2018 New Year address, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has
warned the United States that the nuclear button is always on his desk
but he says he won’t use nuclear weapons if there’s no aggression
against his country.
“The entire mainland of the US is within the range of our nuclear
weapons and the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office. They
should accurately be aware that this is not a threat but a reality,” said Kim during his annual New Year’s Day address.
He also declared that his country is “a responsible nuclear nation
that loves peace” and said that as long as there’s no aggression
directed at it, “we do not intend to use nuclear powers.”
Kim called on his country to accelerate production of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles.
“As for the areas of nuclear weapons research and rocket engineering,
we need to accelerate the mass production of nuclear warheads, whose
power and reliability have already been secured, and ballistic
missiles,” Kim said, adding that the country also needed to be ready “to
retaliate against the enemy’s move for a nuclear war.”
