US GIVES NORTH KOREA A FINAL WARNING
NORTH Korea has warned of “all-out war” as tensions with the US escalate.
A minister for tyrant Kim Jong-un promised weekly missile tests despite international condemnation and said “nuclear war may erupt” if the US was “reckless enough to use military means”.
Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol said: “We’ll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis.” He said “all-out war” would be on the cards if the US turned to military action.
Meanwhile, the country’s deputy UN ambassador, Kim In-ryong, accused the US of “gangster-like behaviour” and of “disturbing peace and stability” across the globe with its “unjust and disproportionate” response to Kim Jong-un.
He warned that, in the current climate, “a nuclear war could break out at any minute”.
His comments were made after US Vice President Mike Pence delivered the blunt warning that America’s “era of strategic patience” with the rogue state was over as relations between the two countries hit an all-time low.
The vice-president warned Kim Jong-un that recent US strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed that the resolve of President Donald Trump should not be tested.
But the ambassador hit back, branding US military training drills with South Korean troops as “aggressive war exercises” promoting “real warfare”.
“It is clear to everybody that the US is hellbent on dangerous sabre-rattling in North Korea,” he said.
The ambassador also accused the US military of “high-handedness”, while slating the Trump government for allegedly ignoring international law. He also claimed that the United Nations was “totally playing to the tune of the United States”.
Mr Pence spoke out during a surprise visit to the demilitarised zone that divides North and South Korea.
He arrived in Seoul on Sunday, hours after North Korea carried out a botched ballistic missile test.
Strength
Mr Pence said: “Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new President in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan. North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region.”
He reiterated US support for South Korea, telling its acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn: “We are with you 100 per cent.”
Mr Pence, whose father served in the Korean War, said the US would stand by its “iron-clad alliance” with South Korea. He added: “All options are on the table to achieve the objectives and ensure the stability of the people of this country.”
Yesterday acting President Hwang announced that the US would send its hi-tech THAAD anti-missile system to the country earlier than expected.
Experts fear the pariah state is close to fitting a nuclear device to a long-range ballistic missile. At the weekend it put on a show of strength with a massive military parade, with thousands of troops marching alongside ballistic missiles.
And yesterday the country’s KCNA news agency carried a letter from the North Korean dictator to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
He wrote: “I express again a strong support and alliance to the Syrian government and its people for its work of justice, condemning the United States’ recent violent invasive act against your country.”
The US, its allies and China are working on responses to North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test.