North Korea vowed on Thursday to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike
against the United States, amplifying its threatening rhetoric as U.N.
diplomats voted on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for
its recent nuclear test.
An unidentified spokesman for
Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said the North will exercise its right for
"a preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the
aggressors" because Washington is pushing to start a nuclear war against
the North.
Although North Korea boasts of nuclear bombs and
pre-emptive strikes, it is not thought to have mastered the ability to
produce a warhead small enough to put on a missile capable of reaching
the U.S. It is believed to have enough nuclear fuel, however, for
several crude nuclear devices.
Such inflammatory rhetoric is
common from North Korea, and especially so in recent days. North Korea
is angry over the possible sanctions and over upcoming U.S.-South Korean
military drills. At a mass rally in Pyongyang on Thursday, tens of
thousands of North Koreans protested the U.S.-South Korean war drills
and sanctions.
Army Gen. Kang Pyo Yong told the crowd that North Korea is ready to fire long-range nuclear-armed missiles at Washington.
"Intercontinental
ballistic missiles and various other missiles, which have already set
their striking targets, are now armed with lighter, smaller and
diversified nuclear warheads and are placed on a standby status," Kang
said. "When we shell (the missiles), Washington, which is the stronghold
of evils, .... will be engulfed in a sea of fire."
The U.N.
Security Council was considering a fourth round of sanctions against
Pyongyang in a fresh attempt to rein in its nuclear and ballistic
missile programs.
The resolution was drafted by the United States
and China, North Korea's closest ally. The council's agreement to put
the resolution to a vote just 48 hours later signaled that it would
almost certainly have the support of all 15 council members.
The statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
It
accused the U.S. of leading efforts to slap sanctions on North Korea.
The statement said the new sanctions would only advance the timing for
North Korea to fulfill previous vows to take "powerful second and third
countermeasures" against its enemies. It hasn't elaborated on those
measures.
The statement said North Korea "strongly warns the U.N.
Security Council not to make another big blunder like the one in the
past when it earned the inveterate grudge of the Korean nation by acting
as a war servant for the U.S. in 1950."
North Korea demanded the
U.N. Security Council immediately dismantle the American-led U.N.
Command that's based in Seoul and move to end the state of war that
exists on the Korean Peninsula, which continues six decades after
fighting stopped because an armistice, not a peace treaty, ended the
war.
In anticipation of the resolution's adoption, North Korea
earlier in the week threatened to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended
the Korean War.
North Korean threats have become more common as
tensions have escalated following a rocket launch by Pyongyang in
December and its third nuclear test on Feb. 12. Both acts defied three
Security Council resolutions that bar North Korea from testing or using
nuclear or ballistic missile technology and from importing or exporting
material for these programs.
U.S. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said
the proposed resolution would impose some of the strongest sanctions
ever ordered by the United Nations.
The final version of the
draft resolution, released Wednesday, identified three individuals, one
corporation and one organization that would be added to the U.N.
sanctions list if the measure is approved.
The targets include
top officials at a company that is the country's primary arms dealer and
main exporter of ballistic missile-related equipment, and a national
organization responsible for research and development of missiles and
probably nuclear weapons.
The success of a new round of sanctions
could depend on enforcement by China, where most of the companies and
banks that North Korea is believed to work with are based.
The
United States and other nations worry that North Korea's third nuclear
test pushed it closer to its goal of gaining nuclear missiles that can
reach the U.S. The international community has condemned the regime's
nuclear and missile efforts as threats to regional security and a drain
on the resources that could go to North Korea's largely destitute
people.
The draft resolution condemns the latest nuclear test "in
the strongest terms" for violating and flagrantly disregarding council
resolutions, bans further ballistic missile launches, nuclear tests "or
any other provocation," and demands that North Korea return to the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It also condemns all of North Korea's
ongoing nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment.