Troops ready for any US action, says North Korea

NORTH KOREA yesterday said its troops were ready in case of US aggression, as tensions rose over the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.

The UN watchdog that oversaw a freeze in the communist state’s nuclear programme until it was thrown out in December said it would hold an emergency session on February 12 and was likely to ask the UN Security Council to take up the issue.

“I’ve exhausted all possibilities within my power to bring North Korea into compliance,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in an interview in Vienna.