North warns of nuclear war on Korean peninsula

NORTH KOREA’S communist regime has warned of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula while vowing to step up its atomic bomb-making programme in defiance of new UN sanctions.

The North’s defiance presents a growing diplomatic headache for President Barack Obama as he prepares for talks tomorrow with his South Korean counterpart on the North’s missile and nuclear programmes.

South Korean president Lee Myung-bak told security-related ministers during an unscheduled meeting yesterday to “resolutely and squarely” cope with the North’s latest threat, his office said. Lee is to leave for the US this morning.