cherylsteele
07-24-2010, 01:08 PM
http://www.theage.com.au/world/north-korea-threat-over-us-war-games-20100724-10pow.html
NORTH Korea yesterday threatened to mount a powerful nuclear response to the coming joint US-South Korean military drills, calling the exercises an ''unpardonable'' provocation on top of wrongly blaming Pyongyang for the sinking of a South Korean warship.
North Korea's powerful National Defence Commission, led by leader Kim Jong Il, warned that its troops would counter the move to hold military manoeuvres involving a nuclear-armed US super-carrier with a ''retaliatory sacred war''.
''The army and people of the DPRK will legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises to be staged by the US and the South Korean puppet forces,'' North Korea's official news agency quoted a commission spokesman as saying, referring to the country by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Pyongyang routinely threatens war when the South and US hold joint military drills, which North Korea sees as a rehearsal for an attack on the North. The US keeps 28,500 troops in the South to deter against aggression, but says it has no intention of invading the North.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and South Korean Defence Minister Kim Tae-young announced last week in Seoul that the allies would stage a four-day military show of force starting today to send a ''clear message'' to North Korea to stop its aggressive behaviour.
Washington and Seoul blame Pyongyang for the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in the waters off Korea's west coast. Forty-six sailors died in what Seoul calls the worst military attack on South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea denies involvement, and has warned that any punishment would trigger war.
In Vietnam for a south-east Asian regional security forum, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a North Korean official traded barbs over the sinking, the military drills and the imposition of new US sanctions against the North.
On Friday, the US-led military command monitoring the ceasefire on the Korean peninsula confronted the North about the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan, calling it a violation of the armistice signed in 1953.
International investigators concluded in May that a North Korean submarine fired the torpedo that sank the Cheonan. The UN Security Council approved a presidential statement this month condemning the sinking, but did not directly blame Pyongyang. The UN Command, however, blames North Korea and considers the sinking a ceasefire violation, a command official said on Friday.
At the Association of South-east Asian Nations meeting in Hanoi, North Korean spokesman Ri Tong Il repeated Pyongyang's denial of responsibility for the sinking. He said the military drills - in the Sea of Japan off Korea's east coast and Yellow Sea closer to China's shores - were a violation of its sovereignty that harked back to the days of 19th-century ''gunboat diplomacy''.
''There will be physical response against the threat imposed by the US militarily,'' Mr Ri said.
Mrs Clinton responded by saying the US was willing to meet and negotiate with the North, but that this type of threat only heightened tensions. She added that progress in the short term seemed unlikely.
''It is distressing when North Korea continues its threats and causes so much anxiety among its neighbours and the larger region,'' she said. ''But we will demonstrate once again with our military exercises … that the US stands in firm support of the defence of South Korea and we will continue to do so.''
She said regional stability, particularly on the Korean peninsula, depended largely on persuading an ''isolated and belligerent'' North to return to nuclear disarmament talks, which it pulled out of last year.
AP
I am wondering how you think this threat should be addressed?
I am not sure how it should be adressed.
NORTH Korea yesterday threatened to mount a powerful nuclear response to the coming joint US-South Korean military drills, calling the exercises an ''unpardonable'' provocation on top of wrongly blaming Pyongyang for the sinking of a South Korean warship.
North Korea's powerful National Defence Commission, led by leader Kim Jong Il, warned that its troops would counter the move to hold military manoeuvres involving a nuclear-armed US super-carrier with a ''retaliatory sacred war''.
''The army and people of the DPRK will legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises to be staged by the US and the South Korean puppet forces,'' North Korea's official news agency quoted a commission spokesman as saying, referring to the country by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Pyongyang routinely threatens war when the South and US hold joint military drills, which North Korea sees as a rehearsal for an attack on the North. The US keeps 28,500 troops in the South to deter against aggression, but says it has no intention of invading the North.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and South Korean Defence Minister Kim Tae-young announced last week in Seoul that the allies would stage a four-day military show of force starting today to send a ''clear message'' to North Korea to stop its aggressive behaviour.
Washington and Seoul blame Pyongyang for the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in the waters off Korea's west coast. Forty-six sailors died in what Seoul calls the worst military attack on South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea denies involvement, and has warned that any punishment would trigger war.
In Vietnam for a south-east Asian regional security forum, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a North Korean official traded barbs over the sinking, the military drills and the imposition of new US sanctions against the North.
On Friday, the US-led military command monitoring the ceasefire on the Korean peninsula confronted the North about the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan, calling it a violation of the armistice signed in 1953.
International investigators concluded in May that a North Korean submarine fired the torpedo that sank the Cheonan. The UN Security Council approved a presidential statement this month condemning the sinking, but did not directly blame Pyongyang. The UN Command, however, blames North Korea and considers the sinking a ceasefire violation, a command official said on Friday.
At the Association of South-east Asian Nations meeting in Hanoi, North Korean spokesman Ri Tong Il repeated Pyongyang's denial of responsibility for the sinking. He said the military drills - in the Sea of Japan off Korea's east coast and Yellow Sea closer to China's shores - were a violation of its sovereignty that harked back to the days of 19th-century ''gunboat diplomacy''.
''There will be physical response against the threat imposed by the US militarily,'' Mr Ri said.
Mrs Clinton responded by saying the US was willing to meet and negotiate with the North, but that this type of threat only heightened tensions. She added that progress in the short term seemed unlikely.
''It is distressing when North Korea continues its threats and causes so much anxiety among its neighbours and the larger region,'' she said. ''But we will demonstrate once again with our military exercises … that the US stands in firm support of the defence of South Korea and we will continue to do so.''
She said regional stability, particularly on the Korean peninsula, depended largely on persuading an ''isolated and belligerent'' North to return to nuclear disarmament talks, which it pulled out of last year.
AP
I am wondering how you think this threat should be addressed?
I am not sure how it should be adressed.