Pyongyang says US-South Korea drill could start nuclear war
North Korea yesterday blasted the US and South Korea as warmongers on the eve of the their largest joint air exercise, saying it could trigger a nuclear war.
And White House national security adviser HR McMaster warned of the increasing possibility of war with nuclear-armed North Korea.
The five-day Vigilant Ace drill – involving about 230 aircraft, including F-22 Raptor stealth jet fighters – begins today, five days after the North test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile believed capable of hitting the US mainland.
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 yesterday.
“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.”
The commentary was published a day after Pyongyang’s foreign ministry accused US president Donald Trump’s government of “begging for nuclear war” by staging what it called reckless air drills.
Mr McMaster said the possibility of war with the North was “increasing every day”.
“I think it’s increasing every day, which means that we are in a race to be able to solve this problem,” he said on Saturday.
“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 Hwasong-15 missile fired on Wednesday could be tipped with a “super-large heavy warhead” capable of striking the whole US mainland, Pyongyang says.
But analysts remain unconvinced that North Korea has mastered the technology to allow the rocket to survive re-entering the atmosphere.
The months-long nuclear stand-off between Mr Kim and Mr Trump has fuelled concerns of another conflict, after the Korean War between 1950 and 1953 left much of the peninsula in ruins.
But even some Trump advisers say US military options are limited when Pyongyang could launch an artillery barrage on the South Korean capital of Seoul – only about 50 kilometres from the border and home to 10 million people.