North Korea’s threat to South

NORTH KOREA threatened South Korea with destruction yesterday after Seoul’s top military officer said he would consider attacking the communist nation if it tried to carry out a nuclear attack.

The statement from North Korea’s official news agency marked the third straight day of bellicose rhetoric from the North, which is angry over the harsher line the South’s new president has taken against the country since assuming office last month.

“Our military will not sit idle until warmongers launch a pre-emptive strike,” said an unidentified KCNA military commentator.

On Friday, North Korea test-fired a barrage of missiles into the sea and warned it would “mercilessly wipe out” any South Korean warships that violate its waters near their disputed sea border.

Such rhetoric by North Korea at times of increased tensions is not rare, and it comes just two days before a scheduled visit to South Korea by the chief US negotiator in North Korean nuclear disarmament talks.

Yesterday’s statement also warned that the North would suspend all scheduled inter-Korean dialogue unless Seoul retracts and apologises for the remark by its top military leader.

Kim Tae-young, chairman of the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday that the military would strike a suspected North Korean nuclear weapons site if Pyongyang attempts to attack the South with atomic bombs.

His office later said he was talking about a general military principle dealing with outside threats.