Israeli regime is the “only illegal possessor of nukes" and "disturber of peace" in West Asia, North Korea says.
Reacting to Tel Aviv Regime's hawkish defense minister who called Pyongyang’s leadership a “crazy and radical group,” North Korea threatened Israel with a “merciless thousand-fold punishment”.
In an interview with Hebrew news site Walla this week, Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman stated that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un is a “madman” in charge of a “crazy and radical group” which is “undermining global stability.”
Pyongyang “seems to have crossed the red line with its recent nuclear tests,” the Israeli defense minister said, according to the Times of Israel.
In response, Pyongyang promised a “merciless thousand-fold punishment to whoever dares hurt the dignity of its supreme leadership,” describing Lieberman’s "reckless remarks" as being "sordid and wicked behavior and grave challenge to North Korea".
Firing back at the perceived hypocrisy, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said that, unlike Israeli regime, which is a “disturber of peace” in its neighborhood, their country is full entitled to seek deterrence against “US aggression.”
“Israel is the only illegal possessor of nukes in the Middle East under the patronage of the US. However, Israel vociferated about the nuclear deterrence of the DPRK, slandering it, whenever an opportunity presented itself,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said, as cited by state-run agency KCNA.
"This is the cynical ploy to escape the world denunciation and curse as disturber of peace in the Middle East, occupier of the Arab territories and culprit of crimes against humanity," the spokesman said.
“The DPRK’s (North Korea) access to nuclear weapons is the legitimate exercise of its righteous right for self-defense to cope with the US provocative moves for aggression and the DPRK's nuclear force is the treasured sword of justice firmly defending peace on the Korean peninsula and in the region,” the North Korean statement added.
The North Korean statement ended with a warning to Israel to "think twice about the consequences to be entailed by its smear campaign against the DPRK to cover up the crimes of occupying Arab territories and disturbing peace process in the Middle East."
Lieberman’s remarks also sparked criticism at home, with some Israeli politicians noting that their country has enough enemies to create even more with such reckless statements.
“We have enough enemies. Let’s focus on them,” MP Shelly Yachimovich of the Zionist Union said on Twitter.
“The minister of talk is chattering irresponsibly about North Korea. And there is no prime minister to rein in the babbling and posturing ministers,” former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon wrote on Twitter, Times of Israel reports.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/6381
TAGS: