North Korea has placed its army on “maximum alert”, as it
disclosed United States interests it will attack if provoked “from the remote
US lands to the American military bases on the Korean peninsula”.
This followed the US vice president, Mike Pence, visit on
Monday to the heavily militarised border between North Korea and South Korea.
Pence said Washington wants to achieve security “through
peaceable means, through negotiations.”
“The message of the people of the United States of America
is that we seek peace, but America has always sought peace through strength and
my message here today standing with US forces Korea, standing with courageous
soldiers from the Republic of Korea is a message of resolve.
“The people of North Korea, the military of North Korea should
not mistake the resolve of the United States of America to stand with our
allies.”
In his reaction, Sin Hong-chol, North Korea’s deputy foreign
minister, told Al Jazeera that Donald Trump’s administration “should look at
the world with open eyes”.
“The time of dictating orders by brandishing the US military
might has gone. If those businessmen in power in the US thought of intimidating
us by any military or sanction threats – as the [Barack] Obama administration
used to do and failed – they will soon find out such threats are useless,” Sin
said.
“If we notice any sign of assault on our sovereignty, our
army will launch merciless military strikes against the US aggressors, wherever
they may exist, from the remote US lands to the American military bases on the
Korean peninsula, such as those of Japan and elsewhere.
“The nuclear weapon in our possession is not illusion; it is
not a commodity that may be traded for American dollars – nor is it for sale.
So it cannot be put on the negotiating table with the aim to rip it off,” he
said.
By Wale Odunsi
