North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) smiles as he guides a test fire of a new multiple launch rocket system in Pyongyang. Reuters

Seoul, March 4

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and the military to be in ‘pre-emptive attack’ mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies, state media said on Friday.The comments, carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency, marked a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after the UN Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on the isolated state for its nuclear programme.North Korea, known for belligerent rhetoric, has previously threatened pre-emptive attacks on its enemies, including South Korea and the United States. Military experts doubt it has yet developed the capability to fire a long-range missile with a miniaturised warhead to deliver a nuclear weapon as far as the US.Kim made the comments as he supervised military exercises involving newly developed rocket launchers, KCNA reported. It did not mention the date of the drills but said the new weapons had South Korea within range. South Korea’s defence ministry said the North launched several projectiles off its coast into the sea, an apparent response to the UN sanctions.Kim said North Korea should “bolster up (its) nuclear force both in quality and quantity” and stressed “the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defence always on standby so as to be fired any moment,” KCNA quoted him as saying. “Now is the time for us to convert our mode of military counteraction toward the enemies into a pre-emptive attack one in every aspect.”Kim criticised South Korean President Park Geun-hye in his first direct published mention of her by name for acting “in league with the US scoundrels,” adding, “her hysteria will precipitate only her ruin in the long run,” KCNA said.A spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said Kim’s comments were not helpful and may have been intended for the domestic audience, to boost morale in the face of the new UN sanctions. — Reuters

Park vows ‘stern’ response

If North Korea launches a provocation, we must respond with stern punishment to clearly show the price North Korea has to pay and our determi-nation to protect our nation. — Park Geun-Hye, South Korean President

S Korea, US open missile shield talks

• South Korea and the US were set to open talks on Friday on the possible deployment, vehemently opposed by China, of an advanced US missile defence system to counter the growing threat from North Korea
• South Korea’s defence ministry said initial discussions would focus on potential locations, as well as cost-sharing and a timeline for installation of the THAAD system
• The system fires anti-ballistic missiles into the sky to smash into enemy missiles either inside or outside the Earth’s atmosphere during their final flight phase
• The interceptor missiles carry no warheads, instead relying on kinetic energy to destroy their targets