SOUTH Korea is forming an elite unit of soldiers charged with the task of killing Kim Jong-un in the potential event of a war, it has been claimed.

The unit, which was due to be established in 2019, will instead come into force this year as tensions flare between the two nations over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

The commando unit will be made up of roughly 2000 elite soldiers who will not only have Kim in their sights but also top North Korean commanders, a South Korean military official told the Financial Times.

The unit would be modelled on the US special forces and would work to knock out the North by eliminating its war common structure.

The squad would form just one part of South Korea’s “three pillar” defence system, which also includes a missile defence and retaliatory measures, according to the Financial Times.

‘THE US IS TO BLAME’

Meanwhile Kim Jong-un issued another warning to the US promising to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) whenever and wherever he sees fit, the New York Post reported.

“The ICBM will be launched anytime and anywhere determined by the supreme headquarters of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea),” he said, according to The Telegraph.

“The US is wholly to blame for pushing the DPRK to have developed an ICBM as it has desperately resorted to anachronistic policy hostile toward the DPRK for decades to encroach upon its sovereignty and vital rights,” he said.

Kim made a similar claim during a New Year’s Day speech and boasted that his country’s military was making great strides in its efforts to test-launch ICBM missiles.

He also claimed the North was a “military power of the East that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy.”

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter agreed that North Korea posed a legitimate threat and told CBS show Meet the Press the US had to defend itself.

“Their nuclear weapons and ballistic missile defence programs are a serious threat to us,” he said.

“We try to stay ahead of that and we are staying ahead of that with our missile defences to make sure we’ve upgraded their number, their type, so that we’re sure we can defend ourselves.”

Mr Carter also vowed to shooting down any missile aimed at our ally.

According to CNN, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said the threat would only lead to further trouble.

“If North Korea disregards our warning and launches an ICBM, it will face more powerful and thorough sanctions and pressure by the international community.”

However, Bruce Bennett, a senior defence analyst at the Rand Corporation, told CNN North Korea doesn’t yet have good enough missile and rocket technology to deliver a nuclear weapon.

— with the New York Post