North Korea Warns of Nuclear Response if South Provokes It

FILE - Kim Yo Jong, center, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, talks with South Koran President Moon Jae-in, right, as they watch a performance of North Korea's Samjiyon Orchestra at National Theater in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 11, 2018. (Bee Jae-man/Yonhap via AP, File)

For the second time this week, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated South Korea for touting its supposed preemptive strike capabilities against the North, saying her country’s nuclear forces would annihilate the South’s conventional forces if provoked.

In a statement carried Tuesday by North Korea’s state media, Kim Yo Jong called South Korea Defense Minister Suh Wook’s recent comments about preemptive strikes a “fantastic daydream” and the “hysteria of a lunatic.”