N Korea Warns US, South of «Preemptive» Nuclear Strike over Military Drills

Local Editor

North Korea is ready to launch a "preemptive nuclear strike" at the United States and the South at the slightest sign of provocation, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) warned Monday.

Pyongyang's routine threat is timed to the start of the annual military exercise, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian, by US and South Korean troops. It brings together tens of thousands of soldiers for two weeks' drills that simulate a full-scale invasion by North Korea.

"The nuclear warmongers should bear in mind that if they show the slightest sign of aggression on the inviolable land, seas and air where the sovereignty of the DPRK is exercised, it would turn the stronghold of provocation into a heap of ashes through Korean-style preemptive nuclear strike," the KPA said a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

The North Korean military warned Seoul that "the situation on the Korean peninsula is so tense that a nuclear war may break out any moment," and vowed to "hold their bayonets more tightly."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team