The reclusive dictator yesterday vowed to “complete the state’s nuclear force”, describing it as a “great historic cause”.
He made the comments to top North Korean military officials after reportedly climbing the hermit state’s tallest mountain.
Pyongyang’s state media released an image of the despot at the top of Mount Paektu, which the regime considers a sacred site.
In a statement, the Korean Central News Agency claimed Kim scaled the 2,744m mountain while “going through thick snow”.
However, the images show the communist leader wearing smart clothes, including leather shoes, and carrying no specialist equipment.
Even more bizarrely, the press release suggested Kim controlled the weather to make it sunny once he reached the peak.
It said: “When Kim Jong-un ascended to the top of the mountain, going through thick snow, it showed fine weather unprecedented in the blizzard of December winter, exposing its majestic figure.
“The mountain showed joy at the appearance of the peerlessly illustrious commander who controls the nature”.
In a quote from the report, Kim even bragged about the visibility on the mountain following his ‘weather miracle’.
He said: “The weather is so fine that we can see peaks on the shore of Lake Chon more clearly as if they are before our very eyes.”
China’s Foreign Minister yesterday warned the crisis on the Korean peninsula had entered a vicious circle of confrontation.
Speaking in Beijing, Wang Yi said: “The outlook is not optimistic. But at the same time it can be seen that hopes for peace have yet to extinguished.Â
“The prospects for negotiations still exist, and the option of resorting to force cannot be accepted.”
North Korea is pursuing nuclear and missile weapons programmes in defiance of international condemnation.
The United States and South Korea conducted large-scale military drills this week to counter the threat posed by Pyongyang.
The North reacted with fury, saying the drills had made the outbreak of war “an established fact”.
On November 29, Kim’s regime test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile which it claimed was capable of reaching the US mainland.
It sparked a warning from Washington that North Korea’s leadership would be “utterly destroyed” if war were to break out.
The Pentagon has mounted repeated shows of force after Pyongyang’s tests.
The United States stations 28,500 troops in the South, a legacy of the Korean War in the 1950s.