NewsRescue
According to a statement issued on Thursday by state media outlet KCNA, North Korea has vowed a nuclear reaction if the US puts aircraft carriers, bombers, and missile submarines in South Korea.
According to Pyongyang, despite repeated warnings, Washington and Seoul convened the “nuclear consultative group” on July 18 to reportedly discuss using nuclear weapons against North Korea.
“In particular, hostile forces posed the most obvious and direct nuclear threat to the DPRK [North Korea] by bringing an Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarine to the Busan Port operation base, implying that strategic nuclear weapons have been deployed on the Korean peninsula for the first time in 40 years,” North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun-nam said in a statement.
He stated that the move indicated that the US nuclear attack scenario on North Korea had reached “the most critical stage of visualization and systemization.”
Kang accused Washington and Seoul of going “beyond the’red line’ in their military hysteria,” claiming that the deployment of nuclear submarines and other strategic assets fits under the prerequisites for the use of nuclear weapons outlined in North Korean military doctrine.
“The DPRK’s nuclear doctrine allows for the execution of necessary action procedures in the event that a nuclear attack is launched against it or it is judged that the use of nuclear weapons against it is imminent,” Kang added. He also warned the US military that its nuclear assets were in “extremely dangerous waters.”
Pyongyang launched two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Wednesday in response to the docking of the USS Kentucky Ohio-class submarine in the South Korean city of Busan.
Tensions between Pyongyang and Washington have risen in recent months, owing to a series of missile tests by North Korea and large-scale military exercises by US and South Korean forces. North Korean officials argue that continuing displays of their country’s military power, including its nuclear weapons program, will assure peace and stability in the face of rising threats from “gangster-like Americans.”
Meanwhile, US officials have reiterated that Washington is willing to speak with North Korea “without preconditions” on its nuclear program, and have framed joint military exercises with South Korea as deterrence against possible Pyongyang assaults.