North Korea today vowed to launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack against the US,amplifying its threatening rhetoric hours ahead of a vote by UN diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.
An unidentified spokesman for Pyongyang8217;s Foreign Ministry said the North will exercise its right for 8220;pre-emptive nuclear strikes on the headquarters of the aggressors8221; 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 US It is believed to have enough nuclear fuel,however,for a handful of crude nuclear devices.
Such inflammatory rhetoric is common from North Korea,but it has been coming regularly in recent days. North Korea is angry over the possible sanctions and over upcoming US-South Korean military drills.
The UN Security Council is set to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Pyongyang in a fresh attempt to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.Russia8217;s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin,the current council president,said the council will vote on the draft sanctions resolution today morning.
The resolution was drafted by the United States and China,North Korea8217;s closest ally. The council8217;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 North8217;s official Korean Central News Agency.
It accused the US 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 of taking 8220;powerful second and third countermeasures against its enemies. Those measures haven8217;t been specifically elaborated on.
8220;We gravely warn that at a time when we cannot avoid a second Korean War,the UN Security Council,which served as the US puppet in 1950 and made Korean people harbor eternal grudges against it,must not commit the same crime again,8221; it said.
North Korea in the statement demanded the UN Security Council immediately dismantle the American-led UN Command that8217;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.