SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned that he was ready to use his nuclear weapons in potential military conflicts with the United States and South Korea, state media said on Thursday, as he unleashed fiery rhetoric against rivals he said were pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war.

Kim's speech to war veterans on the 69th anniversary of the end of fighting in the 1950–1953 Korean War was apparently meant to boost internal unity in the East Asian country, which is suffering from pandemic-related economic difficulties. North Korea is likely to intensify its threats against Washington and Seoul as the two allies prepare to expand summertime exercises the North views as an invasion rehearsal, some observers say.