U.S. and North Korea trade warnings on
nuclear strikes
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[February 06, 2018]
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States said
on Tuesday that North Korea may be only months away from being able to
strike the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile, while
Pyongyang said Washington was considering a pre-emptive strike against
it.
The clash came at the United Nations-sponsored Conference on Disarmament
days after the Trump administration said it will expand its nuclear
capability.
U.S. disarmament ambassador Robert Wood, addressing the Geneva forum,
also warned that arsenals in China and Russia were expanding, drawing
rebukes from their respective delegations.
"Russia, China and North Korea are growing their stockpiles, increasing
the prominence of nuclear weapons in their security strategies, and - in
some cases - pursuing the development of new nuclear capabilities to
threaten other peaceful nations," Wood said.

North Korea "may now be only months away from the capability to strike
the U.S. with nuclear-armed ballistic missiles", he said, giving no
further detail on the source of the statement.
North Korea is under tightening U.N. Security Council resolutions for
its banned nuclear and ballistic missile programs, but relations with
South Korea have softened in the lead-up to the Pyeongchang Olympic
Games opening on Feb. 9.
North Korea accused the United States of seeking to aggravate the
situation on the divided Korean peninsula by "deploying large nuclear
assets" nearby and lay the ground for a possible pre-emptive strike
against it.
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U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood (R) waits next to U.S. Army Captain
Murzban Morris of the Departement of Defense Joint Staff before
their address on North Korea to the Conference on Disarmament at the
United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland August 30, 2017.
REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

"In view of the nature and scale of U.S. military reinforcements,
they are designed to make a pre-emptive strike against the DPRK,"
North Korean diplomat Ju Yong Chol told the talks, referring to his
country's official name the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"U.S. officials including the defense secretary and the CIA director
repeatedly talked about DPRK nuclear and missile threat to justify
their argument for a military option and a new concept of a
so-called 'bloody nose', a limited pre-emptive strike on the DPRK is
under consideration within the U.S. administration," Ju said.
Wood took the floor to retort: "If you claim to want peace, end your
nuclear and ballistic missile tests and stop your provocative
behavior and threats".
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)
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