Kim Jong-un, chairman of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, said, "For South Korea's acts that touch our republic, we will mercilessly make them pay the price without the slightest consideration or the least hesitation."
Korean Central News Agency reported on the 24th that Kim Jong-un said this in a policy speech at the 1st session of the 15th Supreme People's Assembly held the previous day, saying, "We will certify South Korea as the most hostile state and deal with it by thoroughly rejecting and ignoring it with the clearest words and actions."
Kim Jong-un said, "We will never overlook the schemes of forces that seek to infringe on our state's sovereign rights and security interests, and the right to development."
On the situation in Iran, he analyzed, "Now the United States is committing state terror and acts of aggression all over the world, but the overbearing and reckless might of the arrogant United States has not dampened the will of progressive humanity that opposes domination and subjugation and seeks independence and equality; rather, it is provoking anti-U.S. sentiment and hatred among the independent forces and pushing them toward unity and resistance."
On international affairs, Kim Jong-un said, "Whether our adversaries choose confrontation or choose peaceful coexistence is for them to decide, and we are ready to respond to any choice," adding, "In line with the mission granted by the constitution of the republic and the demands of the line to strengthen the state's nuclear force, we will further expand and evolve our self-defensive nuclear deterrent, and we will fully establish the swift and accurate response posture of the republic's nuclear force to ironclad-manage strategic threats to national and regional security."