N. Korea threatens war over military exercises
Source: Agencies |
July 25, 2010, Sunday
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North Korea has vowed to respond with "powerful nuclear deterrence" to joint United States and South Korean military exercises poised to begin today, saying the drills amount to a provocation that would prompt "retaliatory sacred war."
Yesterday's threat comes amid increased tensions on the divided peninsula over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul and Washington blame on Pyongyang.
Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed in the March sinking of the Cheonan.
North Korea vehemently denies any involvement and says any punishment would trigger war.
North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission yesterday backed that threat by promising a "retaliatory sacred war" against South Korea and the US for what it called a second "unpardonable" provocation after wrongly accusing Pyongyang in the Cheonan incident.
"The army and people of (North Korea) will legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises," the commission said in a statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
A day earlier in Hanoi, a North Korean spokesman for the delegation attending a regional security conference warned the drills would draw a "physical response" from Pyongyang.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said no unusual North Korean military movements were detected.
The nuclear-powered USS George Washington supercarrier is already docked in the southern port of Busan for the military games set to begin today.
In addition, the US keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea to deter against aggression, a presence that Pyongyang cites as a key reason behind its drive to build nuclear weapons.
"The more desperately the US imperialists brandish their nukes and the more zealously their lackeys follow them, the more rapidly the nuclear deterrence will be bolstered up along the orbit of self-defense and the more remote the prospect for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will become," the commission statement said.
The US-South Korean military drills are to set to run until Wednesday, with about 8,000 US and South Korean troops on some 20 ships and submarines carrying out exercises in the Japan Sea.
The drills also involve some 200 aircraft, headlined by four US Air Force's F-22 "Raptor" stealth fighters.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry also said yesterday that Pyongyang would further strengthen its nuclear deterrent and again mentioned "powerful physical measures" in response to the US military "provocations and sanctions."
North Korea "is prepared for both dialogue and war. It will remain unfazed by military threat and sanctions," KCNA quoted an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
In Hanoi, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan yesterday called on the international community to take strong measures against North Korea's provocations, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Yesterday's threat comes amid increased tensions on the divided peninsula over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul and Washington blame on Pyongyang.
Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed in the March sinking of the Cheonan.
North Korea vehemently denies any involvement and says any punishment would trigger war.
North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission yesterday backed that threat by promising a "retaliatory sacred war" against South Korea and the US for what it called a second "unpardonable" provocation after wrongly accusing Pyongyang in the Cheonan incident.
"The army and people of (North Korea) will legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises," the commission said in a statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
A day earlier in Hanoi, a North Korean spokesman for the delegation attending a regional security conference warned the drills would draw a "physical response" from Pyongyang.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said no unusual North Korean military movements were detected.
The nuclear-powered USS George Washington supercarrier is already docked in the southern port of Busan for the military games set to begin today.
In addition, the US keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea to deter against aggression, a presence that Pyongyang cites as a key reason behind its drive to build nuclear weapons.
"The more desperately the US imperialists brandish their nukes and the more zealously their lackeys follow them, the more rapidly the nuclear deterrence will be bolstered up along the orbit of self-defense and the more remote the prospect for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will become," the commission statement said.
The US-South Korean military drills are to set to run until Wednesday, with about 8,000 US and South Korean troops on some 20 ships and submarines carrying out exercises in the Japan Sea.
The drills also involve some 200 aircraft, headlined by four US Air Force's F-22 "Raptor" stealth fighters.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry also said yesterday that Pyongyang would further strengthen its nuclear deterrent and again mentioned "powerful physical measures" in response to the US military "provocations and sanctions."
North Korea "is prepared for both dialogue and war. It will remain unfazed by military threat and sanctions," KCNA quoted an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
In Hanoi, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan yesterday called on the international community to take strong measures against North Korea's provocations, the Yonhap news agency reported.
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