By Jack Kim
SEOUL |
Thu Mar 7, 2013 10:40am GMT
(Reuters) - North Korea threatened the United States on Thursday with a
preemptive nuclear strike, raising the level of rhetoric while the U.N.
Security Council considers new sanctions against the reclusive country.
North Korea has accused the
United States of using military drills in South Korea as a launch pad
for a nuclear war and has scrapped the armistice with Washington that
ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War.
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North Korea, which has one major ally, neighbouring http://uk.reuters.com/places/china" title="Full coverage of China - China , threatens the United States and its "puppet", South Korea, on an almost daily basis.
"Since
the United States is about to ignite a nuclear war, we will be
exercising our right to preemptive nuclear attack against the
headquarters of the aggressor in order to protect our supreme interest,"
the North's foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by
the official KCNA news agency.
North
Korea conducted a third nuclear test on February 12, in defiance of
U.N. resolutions, and declared it had achieved progress in securing a
functioning atomic arsenal. It is widely believed the North does not
have the capacity to deliver a nuclear strike on the mainland United
States.
The North's unnamed foreign
ministry spokesman also said it would be entitled to take military
action as of March 11 when U.S.-South Korea military drills move into a
full-scale phase as it had declared the truce invalid.
It
is the latest in an escalation of tough words from both sides of the
armed Korean border this week as the U.N. Security Council deliberates a
resolution to tighten financial sanctions and a naval blockade against
the North.
North Korea, which held a
mass military rally in Pyongyang on Thursday in support of its recent
threats, has protested against the U.N. censures of its rocket launches.
It says they are part of a peaceful space programme and that the
criticism is an exercise of double standards by the United States.
But
North Korea's shrill rhetoric rarely goes beyond just that. Its latest
armed aggression against the South in 2010 came unannounced, bombing a
South Korean island killing two civilians. It is widely accused of
sinking a South Korean navy ship earlier in the year, killing 46
sailors.
North Korea was conducting
a series of military drills and getting ready for state-wide war
practice of an unusual scale, South Korea's defence ministry said
earlier on Thursday.
South Korea
and the United States, which are conducting annual military drills until
the end of April, are watching the North's activities for signs they
turn from an exercise to an actual attack, a South Korean official said.
"It
hasn't been frequent that the North conducted military exercise at the
state level," South Korea's defence ministry spokesman, Kim Min-seok,
said. "The North is currently conducting various drills on land, at sea
and aerially.
"We are watching the
North's activities and stepping up readiness under the assumption that
these drills can lead to provocation at any time."
Kim
declined to confirm news reports that the North has imposed no-fly
zones off its coasts in a possible move to fire missiles, but he said
any flight ban limited to near the coast would not be for weapons with
meaningful ranges.
A top North
Korean general said on Tuesday said Pyongyang was scrapping the
armistice. But the two sides remain technically at war as the civil war
did not end with a treaty.
South
Korea's military said in a rare warning on Wednesday that it would
strike back at the North and target its leadership if Pyongyang launched
an attack.
(Editing by Nick Macfie)