North Korea warns it's 'ready to destroy aggressors without any mercy'

Yahoo7 & Agencies

Senior North Korean officials have warned that the situation on the Korean peninsula is “nearing the brink of nuclear war” and the rogue nation was “ready to destroy aggressors without any mercy”.

Kim Song Gyong, director general of the European Department of the Foreign Ministry in Pyongyang, said that if Washington made “the slightest movement” to make a nuclear strike on North Korea, Pyongyang would strike first and “destroy the aggressors without any mercy.”

Also read: The US Plan to Neutralize North Korea Doesn’t Involve the Military

Kim went on to clarify that the approach to the Korean peninsula of a US aircraft carrier strike force, led by the nuclear powered USS Carl Vinson, would not be considered enough to constitute “the slightest movement”.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un greeting crowds at a parade in Pyongyang. Photo: AP

“The time of dictating orders by brandishing the US military might has gone. If those businessmen in power in the US thought of intimidating us by any military or sanction threats – as the [Barack] Obama administration used to do and failed – they will soon find out such threats are useless,” Sin said.

“If we notice any sign of assault on our sovereignty, our army will launch merciless military strikes against the US aggressors, wherever they may exist, from the remote US lands to the American military bases on the Korean peninsula, such as those of Japan and elsewhere.”

North Korea has held a large military parade to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founder. Photo: AP

North Korea’s deputy representative to the United Nations, Kim In Ryong, accused Washington of creating “a situation where nuclear war could break out an any time” and said Pyongyang’s next nuclear test would take place “at a time and at a place where our headquarters deems necessary.”

Sin Hong-chol, North Korea’s deputy foreign minister, told Al Jazeera that the North Korean army is on “maximum alert” due to escalating tensions with the US and “all options are on the table”.

He said Donald Trump’s administration “should look at the world with open eyes”.

At a White House Easter celebration, Trump was asked by a reporter if he had a message for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and replied: “Gotta behave.”

There were reports on Monday that Donald Trump is considering destroying all of North Korea’s nuclear sites. Photo: AP

US Vice President Mike Pence has put North Korea on notice, warning that recent US military strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed the resolve of President Donald Trump should not be tested.

Pence and South Korean acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn, speaking after a failed missile test by North Korea and a huge display of missiles in Pyongyang, said they would move ahead with the early deployment to South Korea of the US THAAD missile-defence system.

Also read: South Korea and China reportedly agree to take ‘strong action’ to stop North Korea’s nuclear threat

Pence was on the first stop of a four-nation Asia tour intended to show that the Trump administration is not turning its back on the increasingly volatile region.

“Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan,” Pence said in an appearance with Hwang on Monday.

A missile on display during a military parade in North Korea. Photo: AP

Missiles were on display during the parade. Photo: AP

“North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region,” Pence said.

The US Navy this month struck a Syrian airfield with 59 Tomahawk missiles after a chemical weapons attack. On Thursday, the US military dropped “the mother of all bombs”, the largest non-nuclear device it has ever unleashed in combat, on caves and tunnels used by Islamic State in Afghanistan.

Tension has escalated sharply on the Korean peninsula amid repeated North Korean missile tests and concerns that Pyongyang may soon conduct a sixth nuclear bomb test.

NORTH KOREA MISSILE LAUNCH FAILS

Pyongyang has carried out missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions, and has been working to develop a nuclear-topped missile that could strike the US mainland, although US officials say this capability is still several years away.

Military officers marching in Pyongyang during a military parade. Photo: AP

Pence, whose father served in the 1950-53 Korean War, visited the border between North and South Korea earlier on Monday and said Washington would stand by its “iron-clad alliance” with South Korea.

“There was a period of strategic patience, but the era of strategic patience is over,” he said of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

AAP