North Korean state media warned the US of a “super-mighty
preemptive strike” after Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, said America was
looking at ways to bring pressure to bear on North Korea over its nuclear
programme.
US President Donald Trump has taken a hard line with North
Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, who has rebuffed admonitions from sole major ally
China and proceeded with nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of UN
Security Council sanctions.
The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North’s
ruling Workers’ Party, did not mince its words.
“In the case of our super-mighty preemptive strike being
launched, it will completely and immediately wipe out not only US imperialists’
invasion forces in South Korea and its surrounding areas but the US mainland
and reduce them to ashes,” it said.
Reclusive North Korea regularly threatens to destroy Japan,
South Korea and the United States and has shown no let-up in its belligerence
after a failed missile test on Sunday, a day after putting on a huge display of
missiles at a parade in Pyongyang.
“We’re reviewing all the status of North Korea, both in
terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as the other ways in which we
can bring pressure on the regime in Pyongyang to re-engage with us,” Tillerson
told reporters, in Washington, on Wednesday.
US Vice President Mike Pence, on a tour of Asian allies, has
said repeatedly an “era of strategic patience” with North Korea is over.
US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said during a
visit to London the military option must be part of the pressure brought to
bear.
“Allowing this dictator to have that kind of power is not
something that civilised nations can allow to happen,” he said in reference to
Kim.
Ryan said he was encouraged by the results of efforts to
work with China to reduce tension, but that it was unacceptable North Korea
might be able to strike allies with nuclear weapons.
North and South Korea are technically still at war because
their 1950 to 1953 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
South Korea’s acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, at a meeting
with top officials on Thursday, repeatedly called for the military and security
ministries to maintain vigilance.
The defence ministry said US and South Korean air forces
were conducting an annual training exercise, codenamed Max Thunder, until April
28. North Korea routinely labels such exercises preparations for invasion.
“We are conducting a practical and more intensive exercise
than ever,” South Korean pilot Lieutenant Colonel Lee Bum-chul told reporters.
“Through this exercise, I am sure we can deter war and
remove our enemy’s intention to provoke us.”
South Korean presidential candidates clashed on Wednesday
night in a debate over the planned deployment in South Korea of a U.S.-supplied
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system, which has
angered China.
Frontrunner Moon Jae-in was criticised for leaving his
options open before the May 9 election.
On Monday, Hwang and Pence reaffirmed their plans to go
ahead with the THAAD, but the decision will be up to the next South Korean
president.
For its part, China says the system’s powerful radar is a
threat to its security.
The North has said it has developed a missile that can
strike the mainland United States, but officials and experts believe it is some
time away from mastering the necessary technology, including miniaturising a
nuclear warhead.
The US and Russia clashed at the UN on Wednesday over a
U.S.-drafted Security Council statement to condemn North Korea’s latest failed
ballistic missile test.
Diplomats said China had agreed to the statement.
Such statements by the 15-member council have to be agreed
by consensus.
Previous statements denouncing missile launches “welcomed
efforts by council members, as well as other states, to facilitate a peaceful
and comprehensive solution through dialogue”.
The latest draft statement dropped “through dialogue” and
Russia requested it be included again.
“When we requested to restore the agreed language that was
of political importance and expressed commitment to continue to work on the
draft … the US delegation without providing any explanations cancelled the work
on the draft,” the Russian UN mission said in a statement.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China
believed in the Security Council maintaining unity.
“Speaking with one voice is extremely important to the
Security Council appropriately responding to the relevant issue on the peninsula,”
he told reporters.
NAN
