NORTH Korea has warned the United States it will turn to all-out war if Donald Trump continues to undermine work towards preserving peace and security with South Korea, as the hermit state steps up fears of World War 3.
The secretive state unleashed its fury against Mr Trump as officials blamed the US for past tensions on the Korean peninsula.
A warning, pumped out by the communist state's propaganda machine, said outsiders would “never break the will of our nation to advance along the road of reunification, peace and prosperity”.
Pyongyang’s mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said: “The US and other outsiders responsible for the division of the Korean nation are displeased with the improvement of the inter-Korean relations, making desperate efforts to turn the peaceful atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula back to confrontation and war.
“To improve the north-south relations and ensure durable peace on the Korean Peninsula is an urgent demand of our nation and an indispensable prerequisite to national reunification.
“The DPRK has always worked hard to this end and preserved peace and security on this land by smashing every reckless nuclear war move of the US with strong war deterrence.”
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have eased since last year resulting in inter-Korean talks and the North sending a high-level delegation led by Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, and athletes to the Winter Olympic.
The warning comes just a week after Seoul and Washington said they will go ahead with already postponed regular joint military exercise after the Winter Olympics and Paralympics being hosted in South Korea, which ends on March 18.
After the decision to delay the joint exercise, North Korea agreed to hold the first official talks with South Korea in more than two years and send athletes to the Winter Games, easing a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes.
But South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon has now said talks to stage the postponed military drill were moving forward.
KNCA officials said the US was “displeased” with improved relations which would turn Kim Jong-un back to “confrontation and war”.
It read: “This year there opened a dramatic opportunity of turn for peace, stability and reunification of the Korean Peninsula. This is a historic event attributable to the noble patriotism of the peerlessly great man and his will to achieve national reunification and protect peace.
“Now the international community admires the fact that the north-south relations entered the phase of reconciliation, unity and detente from unprecedented catastrophe, hoping that such atmosphere will last.
The secretive state unleashed its fury against Mr Trump as officials blamed the US for past tensions on the Korean peninsula.
A warning, pumped out by the communist state's propaganda machine, said outsiders would “never break the will of our nation to advance along the road of reunification, peace and prosperity”.
Pyongyang’s mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said: “The US and other outsiders responsible for the division of the Korean nation are displeased with the improvement of the inter-Korean relations, making desperate efforts to turn the peaceful atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula back to confrontation and war.
“To improve the north-south relations and ensure durable peace on the Korean Peninsula is an urgent demand of our nation and an indispensable prerequisite to national reunification.
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North Korea has stepped up WW3 fears once again
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“The DPRK has always worked hard to this end and preserved peace and security on this land by smashing every reckless nuclear war move of the US with strong war deterrence.”
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have eased since last year resulting in inter-Korean talks and the North sending a high-level delegation led by Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, and athletes to the Winter Olympic.
The warning comes just a week after Seoul and Washington said they will go ahead with already postponed regular joint military exercise after the Winter Olympics and Paralympics being hosted in South Korea, which ends on March 18.
After the decision to delay the joint exercise, North Korea agreed to hold the first official talks with South Korea in more than two years and send athletes to the Winter Games, easing a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes.
But South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon has now said talks to stage the postponed military drill were moving forward.
KNCA officials said the US was “displeased” with improved relations which would turn Kim Jong-un back to “confrontation and war”.
It read: “This year there opened a dramatic opportunity of turn for peace, stability and reunification of the Korean Peninsula. This is a historic event attributable to the noble patriotism of the peerlessly great man and his will to achieve national reunification and protect peace.
“Now the international community admires the fact that the north-south relations entered the phase of reconciliation, unity and detente from unprecedented catastrophe, hoping that such atmosphere will last.
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“However, as seen in the reality, the US and other outsiders responsible for the division of the Korean nation are displeased with the improvement of the inter-Korean relations, making desperate efforts to turn the peaceful atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula back to confrontation and war.
“No matter how desperately the separatist forces at home and abroad may try, they can never break the will of our nation to advance along the road of reunification, peace and prosperity.”
Tensions have escalated on the peninsula after the US announced on Friday it was imposing its largest package of sanctions aimed at getting North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programmes.
In announcing the sanctions, Mr Trump warned of a "phase two" that could be "very, very unfortunate for the world" if the sanctions did not work.
North Korea criticised the new sanctions in a statement carried on its state media and said a blockade by the US would be considered an act of war.
China also reacted angrily to the new US measures, saying on Saturday the unilateral targeting of Chinese firms and people risked harming cooperation on North Korea.