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Source: Reuters
North Korea accused the South of declaring war by warning
earlier this month that it would launch a pre-emptive strike if it
thought its impoverished neighbour was preparing a nuclear
attack.
The angry retort from Pyongyang is the latest in what have become
increasingly brittle relations between the two Koreas just as the
international community tries to lure the North back to nuclear
disarmament talks.
South Korea's Defence Minister Kim Tae-young said last week that
Seoul would have no choice but to strike first if there were clear
signs of a planned nuclear attack by the North.
"Our revolutionary armed forces will regard the scenario for
'pre-emptive strike' which the south Korean puppet authorities
adopted as a 'state policy' as an open declaration of war," its
state KCNA news agency quoted a spokesman for the armed forces
general staff as saying.
North Korea has twice tested a nuclear device but there are doubts
whether it already has the ability to create an atomic weapon.
Military analysts say even if it did it probably does not have
the technology to build a nuclear warhead small enough to sit on
top of a missile.
The two Koreas are still technically at war with the North
maintaining an about one million-strong military and backed by an
array of artillery which could bring massive damage to the South
Korean capital Seoul, barely 70 km from the border.
The smaller South Korea army is backed by around 28,000 US troops
on its soil and the US nuclear umbrella in the region.
"(The North's armed forces) will take prompt and decisive military
actions against any attempt of the south Korean puppet authorities
to violate the dignity and sovereignty of the DPRK and blow up the
major targets including the commanding center," KCNA quoted the
statement as saying.
"Those seeking to realize their daydream will not be able to escape
an unimaginably miserable fate."
Relations between the two have plunged since conservative Lee
Myung-bak became president two years ago, demanding an end to a
decade of generous aid unless the North made moves to row back on
its nuclear weapons programme.
Late last week, the South said it hoped to see the dormant
international weapons negotiations resume next month between the
two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
The North has said it is willing to end its year-long boycott but
has demanded first an end to UN sanctions that have further damaged
its crippled economy and direct talks with the United States on a
peace deal to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War.
Washington insists that the reclusive state first drop its nuclear
weapons ambitions.
