N. Korean leader threatens to use nuclear weapons against enemies' possible attacks

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has threatened to use nuclear weapons if the country's enemies attempt to use armed force against it, state media reported Tuesday.

The latest rhetoric comes amid lingering tensions on the Korean Peninsula, as North Korea has launched trash-carrying balloons toward the South in retaliation for anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by North Korean defectors and activists in South Korea.

In response, South Korea's military has been blasting daily anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts through its loudspeakers along the border since July 21.

"All military force will be used without hesitation if enemies attempt to use force against our country, and the use of nuclear weapons will not be ruled out," Kim said in a speech during his visit to Kim Jong Un University of National Defense on Monday, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The warning came six days after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said that North Korea will face the end of its regime if it attempts to use nuclear weapons, warning of a "resolute and overwhelming" response from the South Korea-US alliance.

Kim later called Yoon an "abnormal man" for talking about military actions against the nuclear-armed North Korea.

The North's leader said North Korea will accelerate its move to become a military and nuclear superpower in a bid to bolster its nuclear deterrence.

"At a time when the South Korea-US alliance has completely been transformed into a nuclear alliance, as they advertised, our nation's nuclear response posture should be completed to a height that does not have any limit," he noted.

North Korea disclosed a clandestine nuclear uranium enrichment facility for the first time last month in an apparent bid to show that Pyongyang has no intention of giving up its nuclear arsenal.

The North's leader also reaffirmed his stance that South and North Korea are "two states hostile to each other."

"Previously, we talked about liberation of the southern side or unification by force. But we have no interest in it and since we've declared the two separate states stance, we have never been conscious of that country," he said.

"We have no intention of attacking the Republic of Korea. It is creepy to even be conscious of that country and we don't want to face them," Kim added. (Yonhap)