North Korea has claimed the US is to blame for the concept of the “nuclear threat” in a bizarre statement.
It comes after reports US president Joe Biden approved a classified strategic plan back in March, calling for a focus on China instead of Russia, as a strong nuclear opponent.
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Supposedly US forces were urged to prepare for a possible coordinated attack between Russia, China and North Korea.
In a statement reported by the Russian state news agency TASS, North Korea’s foreign ministry appeared to respond by saying it “keeps a close eye on the behaviour” of the US.
It claimed Washington DC “continues to fabricate someone else’s ‘nuclear threat’” while being “obsessed with ensuring unilateral nuclear superiority”.
The ministry said: “We express concern about it as we strongly oppose and reject it.
“The move to update the nuclear policy of the US – a country that has the largest nuclear weapon arsenal in the world – will have a significant negative impact on the security situation and the nuclear disarmament system.”
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According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Russia actually has the most confirmed nuclear weapons with over 5,889 nuclear war heads.
The US comes in second, with 5,224 nuclear weapons.
All other countries known to have nuclear weapons – including the UK and North Korea – have under 500 in comparison.
China comes in third place, with 410 nuclear warheads.
Still, the North Korean foreign ministry claimed: “The US likes to speak about ‘nuclear threats’ from others without any context, while it is the US that is the most irresponsible player and the rogue state provoking a nuclear arms race and increasing the likelihood of a global nuclear conflict.
“Had the US refrained from creating and using nuclear weapons, the concept of nuclear threat would never have emerged.”
Moscow has repeatedly threatened to deploy nuclear weapons against the West ever since invading Ukraine in 2022 – the US and Europe have offered financial and military backing to Kyiv over the last two years.
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At the end of July, Vladimir Putin said it would take just 10 minutes for Russian missiles to hit their intended target.
As Reuters reported, the president claimed: “We will take mirror measures to deploy, taking into account the actions of the United States, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world.”
