ISTANBUL

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has reiterated that Pyongyang will “annihilate” South Korea, dubbing it as its “principal enemy.”

“If the ROK dares attempt to use armed forces against the DPRK or threaten its sovereignty and security and such opportunity comes, we will have no hesitation in annihilating the ROK by mobilizing all means and forces in our hands,” Kim said.

ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea, while DPRK, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea. The Korean Peninsula was divided during a war in the 1950s.

Kim’s statement came during an inspection of North Korea’s major munitions factories in the past two days, Pyongyang-based KCNA reported.

This is the second time in a month Kim warned to “annihilate” South Korea.

On New Year’s eve, he ordered North Korea’s top commanding officers to “thoroughly annihilate” South Korea and the US if they initiated a military confrontation.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have long persisted as the US, South Korea and Japan held, both separately and jointly, military drills while Pyongyang fired missiles and also launched a military satellite.

Early this month, Seoul claimed North fired artillery shells in waters off its western coast but North denied and said it was a “deceptive operation” to assess South’s response capacity.

Kim defined South Korea as a “state most hostile toward” North Korea which has “pursued a history of vicious confrontation with bloodshot eyes to overthrow our regime and social system for nearly 80 years.”

Calling for bolstering up the military capabilities for “self-defense and the nuclear war deterrent first of all,” Kim said: “We would by no means unilaterally bring a great event by the overwhelming strength in the Korean Peninsula but we have no intention of avoiding a war as well.”