North Korea Warns of 'Sacred Nuclear War'

(News Today) - North Korea warned of a ‘sacred war’ using its ‘nuclear deterrent’ as the U.S. and South Korea today began a series of joint military exercises. The two allies said the manoevres were intended to send a strong signal to the North that aggression in the region will not be tolerated.

It follows accusations that the reclusive communist state sank a a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors. U.S. naval vessels began the drills by setting off from South Korean ports where they had called last week in a show of force timed with a high-level meeting between the two allies.

The manoevres, code-named ‘Invincible Spirit,’ are to run until Wednesday with about 8,000 U.S. and South Korean troops, 20 ships and submarines and 200 aircraft.

Among the vessels is the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which can carry 5,000 sailors and 70 aircraft.

‘We are showing our resolve,’ said Captain David Lausman, the carrier's commanding officer.

The exercises are the first in a series of manoevres to be conducted in the East Sea off South Korea's east coast and in the Yellow Sea closer to China's shores in international waters.

The exercises also are the first to employ the F-22 stealth fighter - which can evade North Korean air defenses - in South Korea.

Pyongyang has routinely been shrill in voicing its anger in the past over the allies’ exercises, which it claims are a rehearsal for an invasion

On this occasion, the regime threatened to retaliate with ‘sacred war.’

‘Our military and people will squarely respond to the nuclear war preparation by the American imperialists and the South Korean puppet regime with our powerful nuclear deterrent,’ the North's government-run Minju Joson newspaper said in a commentary Sunday headlined ‘We also have nuclear weapons.’

Still, the North's latest rhetoric carries extra weight following the sinking of the Cheonan.

And U.S. officials say further provocations are possible in coming months, especially as the North tries to build political momentum for the succession to leader Kim Jong-il, who is expected to hand power to his youngest son.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week said new sanctions would be imposed on the Communist state during her visit to South Korea.

The North's foreign ministry has since offered to rejoin the Six-Party Talks, which it pulled out of in 2008 ahead of new missile tests.

The Americans, however, who keep 28,000 troops on the peninsular and 50,000 in Japan, claim the Commnists are bluffing – and simply want to encourage lucrative foreign aid by pretending to open up.

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said his country was ready for dialogue but vowed to respond by force if it had to.

‘We are not the one who would be surprised by military threats or sanctions,’ he said.

Captain Ross Myers, the commander of the carrier's air wing, said the exercises were not intended to raise tensions, but acknowledged they are meant to get North Korea's attention.

‘North Korea may contend that it is a provocation, but I would say the opposite,’ he said. ‘It is a provocation to those who don't want peace and stability.

‘North Korea doesn't want this. They know that one of South Korea's strengths is its alliance with the United States.’

He said that North Korea's threats to retaliate were being taken seriously.

‘There is a lot they can do,’ he said. ‘They have ships, they have subs, they have airplanes. They are a credible threat.’

Though the impoverished North has a large conventional military and the capability to build nuclear weapons, it is not believed to have the technology needed to use nuclear devices as warheads. North Korea has been in increasingly difficult diplomatic straits since the Cheonan incident.

Source : kompas

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