North Korea's military said Saturday that South Korea should retract its top military official's remark about an attack on the communist nation and apologize for it, threatening to suspend all inter-Korean dialogues and contacts.
On Wednesday, Gen. Kim Tae-young, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the South would strike the North's nuclear sites if the communist country attacks the South with nuclear weapons.
"These outbursts are the gravest challenge ever in the history of the inter-Korean relations and a reckless provocation little short of a war declaration against us," the North's military said in a notice sent to the South's chief delegate to inter-Korean general-level military talks, according to the (North) Korean Central News Agency.
"We will counter any slightest move of the South side for 'preemptive attack' with more rapid and more powerful preemptive attack of its own mode," it said.
The communist state's military went on to say that if the South does not retract the call for a "preemptive attack" and apologize, it will lead to the suspension of all inter-Korean dialogues and contacts.
North Korea issued a series of warnings in the past week. On Wednesday, the North's Navy condemned Kim's remarks that the South should defend the disputed sea border with the North at any cost.
On Friday, the communist state's Navy alleged the South's military ships intruded into the North's territorial waters in the West Sea, hours after the North test-fired several short-range missiles. (Yonhap)