'This is reality, not a threat': Kim announces entire US in range of North Korea's nuclear weapons
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says the United States will never be able to declare war now that his country has developed the capability to hit the entire mainland with its nuclear weapons.
"The entire United States is within range of our nuclear weapons, and a nuclear button is always on my desk," he said during a televised New Year's Day speech.
"This is reality, not a threat," he added.
The leader said Pyongyang has completed its nuclear force, which he called a "powerful deterrence against the nuclear threat from the US".
He added that “The United States will never start a war with me and our country,” as long as the North remained a nuclear power.
The standoff between Washington and Pyongyang reached an unprecedented level of tension in the last year.
North Korea continued to pursue its missile and nuclear programs, while the US President Donal Trump said he would consider all options, including military and diplomatic solutions to the crisis.
The North Korean leader said his country's 2018 focus would be efforts on the “operational deployment” of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles.
