Shuimo
06-26-2009, 12:58 AM
Source: Global Times
[07:58 June 26 2009]
Comments (http://encomment.huanqiu.com/content_comment.php?tid=440088&mid=1&cid=4)
By Sun Wei and Kang Juan
North Korea yesterday called for a "patriotic war of justice" to defend the country on the 59th anniversary of the 1950 outbreak of the Korean War, warning of "fiery showers of nuclear retaliation" if the US acts to defend South Korea.
The claim was made in the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, which also reported North Korea would “never abandon the nuclear deterrent and will further strengthen it” as long as the US’ hostile policy continues.
“If the US imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will ... wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all.” The warning, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, was shrugged off by the US, with Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell saying, “For what and with what?” according to Fox News.
US President Barack Obama Wednesday extended a set of economic sanctions on North Korea for another year, which had been due to expire Friday.
Pyongyang made the threat as a US destroyer shadows a North Korean ship, the Kang Nam I, suspected of transporting banned weapons to Myanmar. North Korea has warned that the interception of its ships would be a declaration of war.
“It is an escalation of the verbal battle,” Lü Chao, a researcher at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. He added that the current situation doesn’t predict a war, as it is unlikely North Korea has nuclear weaponry.
However, while an all-out offensive from the North is a remote possibility, US newspaper Stars and Stripes quoted experts as saying a more localized or smaller-scale conflict is possible.
“Limited war and clashes are highly likely given North Korea’s ultra-hardline provocations and actions,” said Cheong Seong-chang, director of the inter-Korean relations program at the Sejong Institute.
A war memorial exhibition was held yesterday in the border town of Kaesong to display “hundreds of historical and cultural artifacts” destroyed by the US during the war. “Attendants hardened their will for revenge after seeing such evidence,” the official Radio Pyongyang said.
South Korea’s Chosum llbo newspaper reported on the eve of the 59th anniversary of the start of the 1950-1953 Korean War that South Korea plans to strengthen its defense by a series of military purchases, including 6 billion won ($4.7 million) to counter electromagnetic pulse waves from nuclear explosions, 8 billion won for Global Hawk unmanned spy planes, and 64 billion won for “bunker buster” bombs, to strike the North’s underground nuclear facilities.
The US is downplaying any imminent threat of a North Korean missile strike or confrontation between the two countries at sea, according to CNN.
After Japanese media reported that North Korea will launch a long-range missile in July, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the deployment of defensive measures around Hawaii.
Regarding the tracking of Kang Nam I, Morrell said that the US had yet to decide the direction in which it would go. “We will likely make (the decision) collectively with our allies and partners.”
“The South, however, will act once it considers the North a realistic threat,” Gong Keyu, an expert on the Korean peninsula at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the Global Times.
Agencies contributed to this story
http://world.globaltimes.cn/editor-picks/2009-06/440088.html
[07:58 June 26 2009]
Comments (http://encomment.huanqiu.com/content_comment.php?tid=440088&mid=1&cid=4)
By Sun Wei and Kang Juan
North Korea yesterday called for a "patriotic war of justice" to defend the country on the 59th anniversary of the 1950 outbreak of the Korean War, warning of "fiery showers of nuclear retaliation" if the US acts to defend South Korea.
The claim was made in the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, which also reported North Korea would “never abandon the nuclear deterrent and will further strengthen it” as long as the US’ hostile policy continues.
“If the US imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will ... wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all.” The warning, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, was shrugged off by the US, with Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell saying, “For what and with what?” according to Fox News.
US President Barack Obama Wednesday extended a set of economic sanctions on North Korea for another year, which had been due to expire Friday.
Pyongyang made the threat as a US destroyer shadows a North Korean ship, the Kang Nam I, suspected of transporting banned weapons to Myanmar. North Korea has warned that the interception of its ships would be a declaration of war.
“It is an escalation of the verbal battle,” Lü Chao, a researcher at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. He added that the current situation doesn’t predict a war, as it is unlikely North Korea has nuclear weaponry.
However, while an all-out offensive from the North is a remote possibility, US newspaper Stars and Stripes quoted experts as saying a more localized or smaller-scale conflict is possible.
“Limited war and clashes are highly likely given North Korea’s ultra-hardline provocations and actions,” said Cheong Seong-chang, director of the inter-Korean relations program at the Sejong Institute.
A war memorial exhibition was held yesterday in the border town of Kaesong to display “hundreds of historical and cultural artifacts” destroyed by the US during the war. “Attendants hardened their will for revenge after seeing such evidence,” the official Radio Pyongyang said.
South Korea’s Chosum llbo newspaper reported on the eve of the 59th anniversary of the start of the 1950-1953 Korean War that South Korea plans to strengthen its defense by a series of military purchases, including 6 billion won ($4.7 million) to counter electromagnetic pulse waves from nuclear explosions, 8 billion won for Global Hawk unmanned spy planes, and 64 billion won for “bunker buster” bombs, to strike the North’s underground nuclear facilities.
The US is downplaying any imminent threat of a North Korean missile strike or confrontation between the two countries at sea, according to CNN.
After Japanese media reported that North Korea will launch a long-range missile in July, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the deployment of defensive measures around Hawaii.
Regarding the tracking of Kang Nam I, Morrell said that the US had yet to decide the direction in which it would go. “We will likely make (the decision) collectively with our allies and partners.”
“The South, however, will act once it considers the North a realistic threat,” Gong Keyu, an expert on the Korean peninsula at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the Global Times.
Agencies contributed to this story
http://world.globaltimes.cn/editor-picks/2009-06/440088.html