Kim calls South Korea a principal enemy as his rhetoric sharpens in a US election year

By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called South Korea “our principal enemy” and threatened to annihilate it if provoked. He is escalating inflammatory, belligerent rhetoric ahead of South Korean and U.S. elections this year, and experts anticipate he will conduct weapons tests to try to influence the results of those elections. State media said Kim made the remarks while touring North Korean munitions factories this week. His visits to the factories could be related to North Korea’s alleged supply of conventional arms to Russia to support its war in Ukraine. The top diplomats of 48 countries said Wednesday that Russia used North Korean missiles against Ukraine on Dec. 30 and Jan. 2.