If US Provokes, North Korea ’Will Go to War’

Local Editor

As North Korea's vice foreign minister said Pyongyang will conduct nuclear test when it sees fit, denouncing the US for bringing 'huge nuclear strategic assets' to the Korean peninsula, China appealed to the US to avoid preemptive strike.

Han Song Ryol said that "We will go to war" if the US chooses to provoke it, accusing the Trump administration of causing trouble and slamming the US for recent military moves in the area ahead of joint exercises with its southern neighbor.

Speaking with AP in Pyongyang on Friday, Han said the US and President Donald Trump were "making trouble" in the region, citing Trump's tweets and the US for moving an aircraft carrier into the region and for participating in its largest-ever joint military exercises with South Korea.

North Korea denounced the United States on Friday for bringing "huge nuclear strategic assets" to the Korean peninsula as a US aircraft carrier group headed for the region amid concerns the North may conduct a sixth nuclear weapon test.

Han said that in the face of such actions, North Korea "will go to war if they choose." And it will continue developing its nuclear program and conduct its next nuclear test whenever its leaders see fit.

"We certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a US preemptive strike," he added.

Trump tweeted on Tuesday that North Korea was "looking for trouble" and added that if China doesn't do its part to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, the US can handle it.

Han responded that it is not his own country but the US and President Donald Trump who are "making trouble," blaming them for the "vicious cycle" in the Korean Peninsula.

For its part, China warned that "conflict could break out at any moment" on the Korean Peninsula.

Speaking on Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also said there would be "no winner" in a potential war, and that the party that triggered conflict would "pay the price."

"Dialogue is the only possible solution," he said during a joint press conference with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault in Beijing.

Tension has risen since the US Navy fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield last week in response to a deadly gas attack, raising concerns about US President Donald Trump's plans for North Korea, which has conducted missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN and unilateral sanctions.

The United States warned that its policy of "strategic patience" is over. US Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team