JOIN USNorth Korea warns US of N-strike
North Korea threatened the United States on Thursday with a preemptive nuclear strike, raising the level of rhetoric just before the UN Security Council approved new sanctions against the reclusive country.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said North Korea’s threats would achieve nothing and would only further isolate the country. China’s UN Ambassador Li Baodong said Beijing wanted to see “full implementation” of the new UN Security Council resolution that tightens financial restrictions on Pyongyang and cracks down on its attempts to ship and receive banned cargo.
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.
North Korea, which has one major ally, neighbouring 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 and declared it had achieved progress in securing a functioning atomic arsenal. It is widely believed that the North does not have the capacity for a nuclear strike against the United States mainland.
With tensions high on the Korean peninsula, the UN Security Council voted to expand its sanctions on North Korea. The new sanctions were agreed after three weeks of negotiations between the United States and China, which has a history of resisting tough measures against its ally.