Seoul warns use of nuclear weapons would end Kim Jong-un regime

South Korea's Defense Ministry warned that any attempts by North Korea to use nuclear weapons will mean the end of the Kim Jong-un regime Sunday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks at a plenary meeting of the Workers' Party in a photo released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Sunday. [YONHAP]

South Korea's Defense Ministry warned that any attempts by North Korea to use nuclear weapons will mean the end of the Kim Jong-un regime Sunday.

The statement comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered that the the country's nuclear arsenal be "exponentially" expanded and a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed in the new year, according to state media Sunday.

Seoul's warning also comes after Pyongyang fired a series of short-range missiles over Saturday and Sunday, on New Year's Eve and Day.

"We sternly warn that if North Korea attempts to use its nuclear weapons, the Kim Jong-un regime will face its end," said Seoul's Ministry of National Defense. "North Korea must immediately stop developing nuclear weapons, which the entire international community opposes with one voice, and return to the path of denuclearization, clearly recognizing that this is the only way to improve the lives of North Koreans."

Kim was quoted as saying Saturday by the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in an English-language report that in a situation in which South Korea has become an "undoubted enemy," this "highlights the importance and necessity of a mass-producing of tactical nuclear weapons and calls for an exponential increase of the country's nuclear arsenal."

He made the remarks at a six-day plenary meeting of the North's ruling Workers' Party that ended Saturday and set Pyongyang's major policy directions for this year.

Kim also ordered the development of "another ICBM system whose main mission is quick nuclear counterstrike," reported the KCNA. This comes as Kim worries that the United States is pushing to form a NATO-like regional military bloc.

Kim also pushed for North Korea to launch its first military reconnaissance satellite as soon as possible.

On Saturday at around 8 a.m., the North fired three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) from Chungwha County in North Hwanghae Province into the East Sea, said South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

Pyongyang launched another SRBM into the East Sea less than three hours into the New Year, the JCS confirmed early Sunday.

The JCS said it detected the launch from the Ryongsong area in Pyongyang at 2:50 a.m., adding the missile flew some 400 kilometers (249 miles) before splashing into the sea.

The JCS said that the South Korean military "is maintaining full preparedness while closely cooperating with the United States and strengthening surveillance and vigilance."

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the U.S. commitments to defend South Korea and Japan "remain ironclad."

This brought the total number of missiles fired by Pyongyang in 2022 to 70 — the highest tally for a single year.

Pyongyang claimed that it had conducted a test-fire of super-large multiple rocket launchers in another KCNA report Sunday.

It reported that on Saturday, "three shells of multiple rocket launchers precisely hit a target island in the East Sea," demonstrating their combat performance.

It added that early Sunday, a long-range artillery sub-unit in the western area of the North Korean People's Army fired one shell towards the East Sea with a super-large multiple rocket launcher.

North Korea leader Kim in a ceremony to present a 600-millimenter rocket launcher to the plenary meeting described it as an "offensive weapon" capable of carrying tactical nuclear warheads that could put the entire South Korea within its range, reported the KCNA.

South tests a solid-fuel rocket from Taean County, South Chungcheong Friday evening. [YONHAP]

The weekend string of North Korean missiles followed the South Korean military's successful test flight of a solid-fueled space launch vehicle on Friday.

Seoul's defense officials acknowledged the test only after it had already been conducted and photos of an unidentified projectile were posted to social media by alarmed residents of southern regions.

The launches have taken place amid the longest-ever plenary session of the 8th Central Committee of the North's Workers' Party, which started on Dec. 26 — the day unmanned aerial vehicles from the North infiltrated South Korean airspace, triggering temporary flight disruptions at Incheon and Gimpo airports and a failed operation by South Korea's military to shoot down the drones.

Although Pyongyang launched what it claimed was a hypersonic missile as early as Jan. 5 last year, a launch on New Year's Day is unprecedented.

BY SARAH KIM, MICHAEL LEE [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]