On Thursday, North Korea vowed that it would launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack against the United States, according to The Associated Press. An unnamed spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Pyongyang said that the North is going to exercise its right for “a preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors.”
Experts believe that the country does not have the ability to produce a warhead small enough to mount to a missile that could reach the United States. The country is believed to have nuclear fuel and crude devices.
North Korea is mad at upcoming sanctions and scheduled military drills by the U.S. and South Korea.
Army Gen. Kang Pyo Yong told thousands of people at rally in North Korea the following:
“Intercontinental ballistic missiles and various other missiles, which have already set their striking targets, are now armed with lighter, smaller and diversified nuclear warheads and are placed on a standby status,” Kang said. “When we shell (the missiles), Washington, which is the stronghold of evils, …. will be engulfed in a sea of fire.”
The latest sanctions were drafted by the United States and China, which is the closest ally of North Korea. The statement released by North Korea also said it “strongly warns the U.N. Security Council not to make another big blunder like the one in the past when it earned the inveterate grudge of the Korean nation by acting as a war servant for the U.S. in 1950.”
North Korea has asked that the U.N. Security Council dismantle the U.N. Command, led by the United States, that is headquartered in Seoul. The fighting ended after the Korean War simply because of an armistice and not a peace treaty.
According to U.S. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, the proposed resolution would impose the strongest sanctions ever from the United Nations. Three individuals, one company, and one organization were named in the resolution.