Seoul, South Korea – North Korea vowed Monday to respond with an “annihilating” nuclear strike if it is attacked pre-emptively by the U.S.
The Bush administration responded sternly, saying that while it had no intention of attacking, it was determined to protect the U.S. if North Korea launched a long-range missile.
“Should North Korea take the provocative action of launching a missile, the U.S. would respond appropriately, including by taking the necessary measures to protect ourselves,” said Julie Reside, a State Department spokeswoman.
Still, Reside said, the U.S. and other countries that have negotiated with North Korea are seeking a fundamentally different relationship with the reclusive regime. She said that relationship must be based on the complete and verifiable elimination of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and nuclear program.
“We and our partners in the six-party process continue strongly to urge North Korea not to launch a long-range missile and, instead, to return to the six-party talks,” she said in a statement.
The six-party talks, suspended by North Korea, involved negotiations by the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan and Russia with Pyongyang over the country’s nuclear program.
The North’s warning effectively stepped up its customary anti-U.S. vitriol, in which it often accuses Washington of plotting an attack. The North has recently come under heightened scrutiny after reports by the U.S. and Japan that it has taken steps to prepare for a test of a long-range missile.
The North’s Korean Central News Agency, citing an unidentified “analyst” with the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, accused the U.S. of harassing Pyongyang with war exercises, a massive arms buildup and increased aerial spying by basing new spy planes in South Korea.
The report concluded by urging the U.S. to “get out of South Korea promptly.” About 29,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against the communist North.
