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North Korea FM: Korean peninsula on verge of full-scale war

According to the diplomat, North Korea is ready to deliver pre-emptive nuclear strike in response to "US hysteria over nuclear war unleashing"
North Korean Foreign Minister Lee Su-yong Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
North Korean Foreign Minister Lee Su-yong
© Alexander Shcherbak/TASS

MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. The situation on the Korean peninsula is on the verge of a full-scale war due to the activities of the United States, which constantly holds joint military exercises with South Korea, North Korean Foreign Minister Lee Su-yong told TASS on Monday.

"At present, a situation has developed on the Korean peninsula that a war can start right now due to the activities of the United States, which conducts military drills in real conditions envisaging all methods of performing sudden military raids on the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea and views ‘a pre-emptive strike’ as a fait accompli," the North Korean foreign minister said in written comments on TASS’ questions.

"The United States is shifting the center of strategy for supremacy over the entire world to the Asian-Pacific region and has defined the DPRK as target No. 1 for the attack," the minister said.

"All the countries wishing peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in the region should be vigilant over the US practices," he added.

US military exercises on Korean peninsula

"Despite our numerous warnings, the US is currently conducting the unprecedentedly large joint military maneuvers Key Resolve and Foal Eagle on the entire territory of South Korea, which are aimed against our republic," Lee Su-yong said.

"The current military maneuvers where a huge military contingent numbering several hundred thousand servicemen is involved and all possible strategic nuclear armaments whose number is twice as much as in the previous years are being held in conditions maximally close to real combat," the North Korean foreign minister said.

"The United States openly states that these maneuvers are a final check of the real ability to conduct a war for the seizure of the North," the minister said.

‘It is clearly obvious that we cannot in any case sit idle in the face of the US threat," he added.

The United States has concentrated all its available strategic nuclear strike means in a limited area around the Korean peninsula. No country in the world has ever faced such a serious and real threat, the North Korean foreign minister said.

"It was the United States that pushed us towards possessing nuclear weapons while a nuclear threat and blackmail from the US have been the causes that have led to North Korea’s nuclear status," Lee Su-yong said.

Strengthening nuclear forces

The sole way to repel a constant nuclear threat and the US schemes for unleashing a war is to reach parity by way of strengthening North Korea’s nuclear forces, the foreign minister said.

"We have a powerful military might that can conduct a war with any means," the North Korean foreign minister said.

"The DPRK has placed its army into the state of its readiness to deliver a pre-emptive nuclear strike in response to the US hostile activities," he said.

"In response to the US frenzied hysteria for unleashing a nuclear war, we have fully transferred our army from the form of military response to the form of delivering a pre-emptive strike and state resolutely about the readiness to deliver a pre-emptive nuclear strike," the North Korean foreign minister said.

"In a word, the Korean peninsula faces the dilemma: a thermonuclear war or peace," the North Korean foreign minister said.

According to Lee Su-yong, North Korea will be strengthening its Army, with the nuclear forces as its core element, in response to the US "reckless actions" and the pace of this process will depend on a change in Washington’s attitude to Pyongyang.

"In response to the US reckless and hostile practices and undisguised nuclear threat, we’ll be strengthening ever more considerably the state’s defense capability, with the nuclear forces as its core element. The pace of the development of our nuclear forces will depend on the US activities and the change of the US attitude to us," the North Korean foreign minister said.

According to him, North Korea is ready to deliver pre-emptive nuclear strike in response to US hpstile actions.

"In response to the US frenzied hysteria for unleashing a nuclear war, we have fully transferred our army from the form of military response to the form of delivering a pre-emptive strike and we state resolutely about the readiness to deliver a pre-emptive nuclear strike," the North Korean foreign minister said in written answers to TASS’ questions.

"In a word, the Korean peninsula faces the dilemma: a thermonuclear war or peace," the North Korean foreign minister said.

The diplomat also noted that North Korea plans to strengthen its defense capability with nuclear forces as its core element.

"In response to the US reckless and hostile practices and undisguised nuclear threat, we’ll be strengthening ever more considerably the state’s defense capability, with the nuclear forces as its core element. The pace of the development of our nuclear forces will depend on the US activities and the change of the US attitude to us," the foreign minister said.