US, N Korea on brink of war

– North Korea blasted the US and South Korea as “warmongers” yesterday on the eve of their largest-ever joint air exercise, saying it could trigger a nuclear war.

The comments came as White House National Security Advisor HR McMaster warned of the “increasing” possibility of war with the impoverished but nuclear-armed North.

The five-day Vigilant Ace drill involving some 230 aircraft, including F-22 Raptor stealth jet fighters, begins today, five days after the North test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile believed to be capable of hitting the US mainland in a fresh challenge to President Donald Trump.

The North’s ruling party Rodong newspaper slammed the upcoming drill.

“It is an open, all-out provocation against the DPRK, which may lead to a nuclear war any moment,” it said in an editorial yesterday, using the North’s official name.

“The US and South Korean puppet warmongers would be well advised to bear in mind that their DPRK-targeted military drill will be as foolish as an act precipitating their self-destruction,” it said.

The commentary was published a day after Pyongyang’s foreign ministry accused the Trump administration of “begging for nuclear war” by staging what it called reckless air drills.

McMaster said the possibility of war with the North was “increasing every day”.

He added: “We are in a race to be able to solve this problem. There are ways to address this problem short of armed conflict, but it is a race because he’s getting closer and closer, and there’s not much time left.”

The North says the Hwasong-15 missile fired on Wednesday can be tipped with a “super-large heavy warhead” capable of striking the whole US mainland.

But analysts remain unconvinced that it has mastered the advanced technology to allow the rocket to survive re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere. – AFP