N Korea threatens ‘merciless’ strike against US-S Korea drill
18 Aug 2014 12:03 AM GMT
North Korea warned on Sunday of a ‘merciless’ pre-emptive strike as it blasted upcoming joint US-South Korean military exercises as a rehearsal for nuclear war.
South Korea and the US tomorrow start the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian drill aimed at testing combat readiness for a North Korean invasion which involves tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops.
In a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency, the North’s military accused Washington and Seoul of planning a ‘dangerous’ rehearsal for nuclear war. ‘We declare once again that we will mercilessly open the strongest ... pre-emptive strike of our own style any time at our discretion,’ it said.
North Korean soldiers were ready to ‘turn the strongholds of aggression into a sea of fire and ashes’, the statement said. The exercise comes as tensions run high on the Korean peninsula following an extended series of North Korean missile tests in recent months.
UN resolutions bar North Korea from any launches using ballistic missile technology. But the nuclear-armed communist country has defended the tests as a legitimate exercise in self-defence.
South Korea and the US tomorrow start the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian drill aimed at testing combat readiness for a North Korean invasion which involves tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops.
In a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency, the North’s military accused Washington and Seoul of planning a ‘dangerous’ rehearsal for nuclear war. ‘We declare once again that we will mercilessly open the strongest ... pre-emptive strike of our own style any time at our discretion,’ it said.
North Korean soldiers were ready to ‘turn the strongholds of aggression into a sea of fire and ashes’, the statement said. The exercise comes as tensions run high on the Korean peninsula following an extended series of North Korean missile tests in recent months.
UN resolutions bar North Korea from any launches using ballistic missile technology. But the nuclear-armed communist country has defended the tests as a legitimate exercise in self-defence.
Next Story
