Pyongyang Believes USA can Deliver Nuclear Blow Against North Korea at Any Time

North Korea's government believes "the United States can deliver a preventive nuclear blow against North Korea at any time," reads the statement of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's representative that reached North Korea's embassy in Moscow.

The statement was made in connection with the coming military exercises, Eagle, scheduled to take place in South Korea from March 4th to April 2nd and joint US-South Korean exercises to provide assistance in the time of war. The exercises will involve 200,000 military men including the US troops stationed in South Korea and the South Korean army as well as numerous military machines including an aircraft carrier.

The USA "intends to increase armed forces in the region and also to rehearse a large-scale nuclear war," the North Korean Foreign Ministry representative's statement says.

Pyongyang believes "this is a part and escalation of the intended military operation aimed at eliminating North Korea by a preventive nuclear blow alone." The USA will bear the whole responsibility for "possible negative results" of the joint large-scale military exercises in South Korea, the North Korea's representative stressed.

The North Korea's representative also recalled that "the USA was to blame for the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula and for its escalation." The North Korean diplomat called on "South Korea's military forces to think about their antinational actions", which are aimed at breaking the joint declaration of June 15th.

The declaration was signed at an inter-Korean summit on June 15th, 2000. The meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung was held in Pyongyang.