North Korea Threatens Military Strikes

Clinton Reiterates U.S. Pledge to Defend Japan and South Korea
By EVAN RAMSTAD
WSJ

SEOUL – North Korea on Wednesday delivered an angry response to South Korea's decision a day earlier to join an effort to halt atomic-weapons trafficking, saying it would no longer stick to the armistice agreement that halted fighting in the Korean War of the 1950s.

North Korea threatened a military strike against the South Wednesday, a day after Seoul joined a U.S.-led initiative to intercept shipments suspected to be weapons of mass destruction. Video courtesy of Reuters.

"Any minor hostile acts, including cracking down on or searching our peaceful vessels, will be an unacceptable infringement of our republic's sovereignty," said the statement, issued by North Korea's military and broadcast by state media. "We will respond with immediate and strong military strike."

North Korea routinely uses war-like words in official statements when it is upset with actions taking place in the United Nations or the three countries it considers to be enemies – South Korea, Japan and the U.S.

The latest statement reiterated an earlier one that said South Korea's full participation in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative would amount to a "declaration of war" against it.

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