North Korea to "wipe out" US from globe

The ruling communist party's Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Thursday condemned Washington's pledge to provide nuclear defense for South Korea, and accused the US and South Korea of efforts to provoke a new war.

"A touch-and-go situation has been created on the Korean peninsula...with dark clouds of a nuclear war gathering as the hours tick by," it said in a lengthy commentary marking the anniversary of the 1950-1953 war.

"As long as the US hostile policy continues, we will never give up our nuclear deterrent and even strengthen it," it emphasized.

North Korea has threatened a potential "fire shower of nuclear retaliation" should the US start a war, vowing to "wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all."

Conflicts between the communist North and capitalist South started in June 1950 and ended with a truce - as opposed to a peace treaty -- following the intervention of a UN force against North Korean and Chinese troops.

Pyongyang's nuclear test in late May, followed by more short and long-range missile tests, drew strong condemnations from the international community, prompting the UN Security Council to impose tougher sanctions on the communist state.

North Korea's war rhetoric against Washington toughened following a last week summit between President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak where the US pledged to defend the South with nuclear weapons.

The US, which headed the UN force in the Korean War, currently has 28,500 troops in South Korea.