Tension Escalates between Koreas As North Warns US

Local Editor

North Korea warned on Tuesday of harsh retaliation against South Korea and its ally the United States, which are preparing for annual joint military exercises next month amid heightened tensions following the North's nuclear test and rocket launch.

"All the powerful strategic and tactical strike means of our revolutionary armed forces will go into preemptive and just operation to beat back the enemy forces to the last man if there is a slight sign of their special operation forces and equipment moving to carry out the so-called 'beheading operation' and 'high-density strike,'" the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by state media.

It said its first target would be South Korea's presidential Blue House, while US military bases in Asia and on the US mainland would be its secondary targets. About 28,500 US troops are based in South Korea.

Last week, South Korean President Park Geun-hye warned of tough measures against the North following its January nuclear test and its long-range rocket launch this month, saying Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons would speed the collapse of the regime.

South Korea and the United States said both actions were violations of UN Security Council resolutions, and are pushing for further sanctions.

Meanwhile, the top US military commander in South Korea said Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would use a weapon of mass destruction if he thought the fate of his rule was at stake.

If he "thought his regime were challenged he states that he would use WMD," Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of US Forces Korea, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday.

Scaparrotti said that tensions on the Korean Peninsula were at their highest level in more than 20 years.

Adm. Harry Harris, commander of US Pacific Command, said at the same hearing that if North Korea continues to develop ballistic missiles, a US military option is possible.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team