North Korea has placed its army on “maximum alert”, as it disclosed United States interests it will attack if provoked “from the remote US lands to the American military bases on the Korean peninsula”.
This followed the US vice president, Mike Pence, visit on Monday to the heavily militarised border between North Korea and South Korea.
Pence said Washington wants to achieve security “through peaceable means, through negotiations.”
“The message of the people of the United States of America is that we seek peace, but America has always sought peace through strength and my message here today standing with US forces Korea, standing with courageous soldiers from the Republic of Korea is a message of resolve.
“The people of North Korea, the military of North Korea should not mistake the resolve of the United States of America to stand with our allies.”
In his reaction, Sin Hong-chol, North Korea’s deputy foreign minister, told Al Jazeera that Donald Trump’s administration “should look at the world with open eyes”.
“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.
“The nuclear weapon in our possession is not illusion; it is not a commodity that may be traded for American dollars – nor is it for sale. So it cannot be put on the negotiating table with the aim to rip it off,” he said.
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