NORTH KOREA: WE’LL ‘RAVAGE’ U.S. TROOPS
Korea nut shakes fist at Don U.S. carrier to counter nuke-test threat
NORTH KOREA paraded tanks, missiles and soldiers before leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday — while escalating tensions with the White House by warning the U.S. to end its “military hysteria” or face the consequences.
The menacing boast came as the Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group headed closer to North Korea amid rising fears the secretive state is on the verge of another nuclear weapons test.
“We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack,” Choe Ryong Hae, considered to be the second-most powerful official in the country, said during the parade in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
Prototype intercontinental ballistic missiles and other military hardware at the parade included tanks, multiple rocket launchers and artillery guns, as well as a solidfuel missile designed to be fired from submarines.
The holiday, known as the Day of the Sun, normally includes an immense military pageantry and synchronized public performances involving thousands of people in Pyongyang. State television showed what appeared to be several KN-08 and KN-14 missiles rolled out on trucks at the parade. Military analysts say the projectiles could one day be capable of hitting the U.S.
North Korean soldiers also rolled out what appeared to be another large rocket covered by a canister.
Kim Jong Un didn’t speak before North Korean television ended the live broadcast.
Earlier, the country’s military taunted the U.S. with a provacative
statement.
“Our toughest counteraction against the U.S. and its vessel forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive,” the military statement said, according to the country’s state-sponsored KCNA news agency.
The latest wave of warmongering also came as a spokesman for the isolated regime warned that President Trump’s recent tweets are fueling a “vicious cycle” of belligerence. Speaking to the Associated Press, North Korea’s vice foreign minister said that any sign of “reckless” military aggression on the part of the U.S. could lead Pyongyang to launch a preemptive strike of its own.
Vice Minister Han Song Ryol said Pyongyang has determined the Trump administration is “more vicious and more aggressive” than former President Barack Obama.
Han also dismissed the suggestion Trump made during last year’s presidential campaign that he’d be willing to meet Kim Jong Un, possibly over hamburgers.
He said Kim Jong Un would not back down in terms of his nuclear ambitions.North Korea recently test-fired four ballistic missiles and claims it is close to perfecting an intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear warhead capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Han’s comments revealed the “true colors of North Korea’s government that is bellicose and a breaker of regulations.”
China also quickly responded to the new jousting in the nuclear hot spot, saying there will be no winner in a war between the U.S. and North Korea.
“Once a war really happens, the result will be nothing but multiple loss,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
A State Department official said Friday the U.S. was aligning “all elements of national power” to get North Korea to abandon its missile program. The official, who was not identified because he was not authorized to be quoted by name, said Washington would be willing to work with international partners to further cut off the North Korean government “from the rest of the world.”
For his part, Trump has said the North is “looking for trouble.” He reiterated his call for more pressure from Chinato clamp down on trade and back stronger enforcement of UN sanctions to force denuclearization.