N. Korea threatens attacks on South

By Na Jeong-ju

North Korea warned Friday of “self-defensive strikes” against South Korea if the latter goes ahead with the planned live-fire drills near Yeonpyeong Island.

South Korea’s defense ministry ignored the North’s threatening and vowed to conduct the drills as planned.

“We will mercilessly respond to the exercise with rounds of self-defensive attacks,” the North’s military said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

“The intensity and range of the firepower will create a more serious situation than one on Nov. 23” when the North shelled the island near the western sea border, killing two marines and two civilians, the statement said.

The warning came as the South Korean military was preparing to conduct the live-fire drills sometime between Saturday and Tuesday with representatives from the United Nations Command taking part in as observers.

The United States has expressed support for the exercise.

The South’s defense ministry said in a press release, “There is no need to respond.”

Earlier in the day, North Korea said that another war with South Korea would involve nuclear arms and spread beyond the Korean Peninsula.

Uriminzokkiri, the communist nation’s official website, said in a commentary that “if a war breaks out, it will lead to nuclear warfare and not be limited to the peninsula.”

In a separate editorial in a newspaper published by the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, Pyongyang reiterated its long-running demand that Washington agree to a peace pact to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War and withdraw its 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea.

The two Koreas remain technically at war as the Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

The violent rhetoric came as New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was in North Korea on a private mission aimed at addressing inter-Korean tensions, which have been rising since the North’s deadly artillery attack on Yeonpyeong and its revelation of a modern uranium enrichment program.

Pyongyang, which conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, claims its uranium enrichment activity is intended for peaceful purposes.

Some nuclear experts have warned that the North may attempt a third test soon.