NK warns of nuke war against US

Hyon Yong-chol

By Jun Ji-hye

North Korea said Thursday that it is ready to wage nuclear war against the United States if the country and its followers continue military provocations that amount to signaling an impending attack.

“The U.S. and South Korea have pushed forward with joint military exercises despite our demand for their suspension,” said Hyon Yong-chol, the chief of Pyongyang’s People’s Armed Forces, during an international security conference in Moscow. “Tension on the Korean Peninsula has reached boiling point.”

Citing Washington’s wish to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on the peninsula, Hyon said, “The U.S. is revealing its true colors to confront China and Russia.”

He claimed that the North’s possession of nuclear weapons “is the direct result of the hostile policy by the U.S. and is aimed at eliminating its nuclear threat.”

Hyon added that Pyongyang will continue to beef up its military unless the U.S. stops its hostile policies.

South Korea attacked the repressive state for its renewed pledge to cling to its nuclear weapons program, saying it would deal sternly with the reclusive nation’s provocative act.

“North Korea cannot be recognized as a nuclear-weapons state and its possession of any nuclear (capabilities) cannot be accepted,” Kim Min-seok, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, said in a statement, Friday. “If it continues to issue threats of war and be provocative, our military will respond strongly and sternly.”

Pyongyang has long demanded such recognition despite a flat rejection by the international community. It conducted underground tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, and has threatened to carry out “a new form” of test.

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