North Korea state media warns of nuclear
strike if provoked as U.S. warships approach
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[April 11, 2017]
By Ju-min Park
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean state media
on Tuesday warned of a nuclear attack on the United States at any sign
of a U.S. pre-emptive strike as a U.S. Navy strike group led by a
nuclear-powered aircraft steamed towards the western Pacific.
Tension has escalated sharply on the Korean peninsula with talk of
military action by the United States gaining traction following its
strikes last week against Syria and amid concerns the reclusive North
may soon conduct a sixth nuclear test.
North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the country was
prepared to respond to any aggression by the United States.
"Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy
elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases
not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theatre but also in
the U.S. mainland," it said.
South Korean acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn warned of "greater
provocations" by North Korea and ordered the military to intensify
monitoring and to ensure close communication with the United States.
"It is possible the North may wage greater provocations such as a
nuclear test timed with various anniversaries including the Supreme
People's Assembly," said Hwang, acting leader since former president
Park Geun-hye was removed amid a graft scandal.
The North convened a Supreme People's Assembly session on Tuesday, one
of its twice-yearly sessions in which major appointments are announced
and national policy goals are formally approved.
But South Korean officials took pains to quell talk in social media of
an impending security crisis or outbreak of war.
"We'd like to ask precaution so as not to get blinded by exaggerated
assessment about the security situation on the Korean peninsula,"
Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun said.
Saturday is the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the
country's founding father and grandfather of current ruler, Kim Jong Un.
A military parade is expected in the North's capital, Pyongyang, to mark
the day. North Korea often also marks important anniversaries with tests
of its nuclear or missile capabilities in breach of U.N. Security
Council resolutions.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a message of congratulations to
mark the event, lambasting "big powers" for their "expansionist" policy.
"The friendly two countries are celebrating this anniversary and, at the
same time, conducting a war against big powers' wild ambition to subject
all countries to their expansionist and dominationist policy and deprive
them of their rights to self-determination," Russian news agency Tass
quote the message as saying.
The North's foreign ministry, in a statement carried by its KCNA news
agency, said the U.S. navy strike group's approach showed America's
"reckless moves for invading had reached a serious phase".
"We never beg for peace but we will take the toughest counteraction
against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force
of arms and keep to the road chosen by ourselves," an unidentified
ministry spokesman said.
North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war
because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The
North regularly threatens to destroy the South and its main ally, the
United States.
SANCTIONS WARNING
Delegates from around the North have been arriving in Pyongyang ahead of
the assembly session. They visited statues of previous leaders Kim Il
Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il, state media reported.
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A general view of an annual central report meeting in this undated
photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in
Pyongyang April 9, 2017. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korea is emerging as one of the most pressing foreign policy
problems facing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
It has conducted five nuclear tests, two of them last year, and is
working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United
States.
The Trump administration is reviewing its policy towards North Korea
and has said all options are on the table, including military
strikes, but U.S. officials said non-military action appears to be
at the top of the list if any action were to be taken.
Russia's foreign ministry, in a statement ahead of a visit by U.S.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, said it was concerned about many
aspects of U.S. foreign policy, and particularly concerned about
North Korea.
"We are really worried about what Washington has in mind for North
Korea after it hinted at the possibility of a unilateral military
scenario," a statement said.
"It's important to understand how that would tally with collective
obligations on de-nuclearising the Korean peninsula, something that
is underpinned in U.N. Security Council resolutions."
Russia slammed U.S. cruise missile strikes on a Syrian air base on
Friday, calling them an illegal attack on a sovereign state.
The U.S. Navy strike group Carl Vinson was diverted from planned
port calls to Australia and would move towards the western Pacific
Ocean near the Korean peninsula as a show of force, a U.S. official
told Reuters over the weekend.
U.S. officials said it would still take the strike group more than a
week to arrive near the Korean peninsula.
Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, met in Florida last
week and Trump pressed Xi to do more to curb North Korea's nuclear
programme.
China and South Korea agreed on Monday to impose tougher sanctions
on North Korea if it carried out nuclear or long-range missile
tests, a senior official in Seoul said.
On Tuesday, a fleet of North Korean cargo ships was heading home to
the port of Nampo, the majority of it fully laden, after China
ordered its trading companies to return coal from the isolated state
to curb coal traffic, sources with direct knowledge of the trade
said.
The order was given on April 7, just as Trump and Xi were set for
the summit where the two agreed the North Korean nuclear advances
had reached a "very serious stage", Tillerson said.
Following repeated missile tests that drew international criticism,
China banned all imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26, cutting
off the country's most important export product.
As well as the anniversary of Kim Il Sung's birth, there are several
other North Korean anniversaries in April that could be
opportunities for weapon tests, South Korean officials have said.
The North is seen ready to conduct its sixth nuclear test at any
time, with movements detected by satellite at its Punggye-ri nuclear
test site.
(Additional reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Jack
Kim, Robert Birsel and Nick Macfie)
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