North Korea warns of war 'at any moment'

North Korea today warned that the situation on its divided peninsula was so alarming that “a nuclear war may break out at any moment.”

The tough words came just hours after one of its fighter jets briefly crossed into South Korea but retreated after being confronted by two southern jets.

The provocation prompted military commanders in the South Korean capital Seoul to put an anti-aircraft missile unit into battle position.

The North threatened only days ago to abandon the armistice keeping peace along the countries’ tense border.

The incursion, the first by a North Korean military jet since 1983, increased jitters on the peninsula, where the North is locked in a dispute over its nuclear weapons development.

“Our military sternly protests the North Korean provocation and demands that the North take actions to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents,” South Korean spokesman Brigadier General Hwang Young-soo said.

He warned that the incursion “could result in very serious consequences in the current situation on the Korean Peninsula”.

KCNA, the North’s state news agency and a mouthpiece of the regime, said the situation on the peninsula was now “so alarming that a nuclear war may break out at any moment.”

Tension has crept up since October, when US officials said North Korea had admitted having a covert nuclear weapons programme.

Washington and its allies suspended fuel shipments, and the North retaliated by expelling UN monitors, taking steps to restart frozen nuclear facilities and withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

On Tuesday, North Korea threatened to abandon the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War if the US went ahead with sanctions or other actions against the reclusive communist state.

The North Korean MiG-19 jet fighter crossed the western sea border at 10.03 am (1.03am Irish time) today and flew almost eight miles into Southern airspace before heading back into communist territory two minutes later.

A South Korea anti-aircraft missile unit near Incheon, a seaport west of Seoul, went into battle position. At the same time, two South Korean F-5E jets raced to the scene to try to intercept the intruder.

Later, four more South Korean F-5E jets were deployed to the area.

The North does not recognise the so-called Northern Limit Line maritime border that was drawn up by the US-led UN Command after the Korean War.

North Korea has in the past provoked armed clashes along the zone in apparent attempts to raise tensions and bring South Korea and its US ally to the negotiating table.

In June last year, warships from the two Koreas clashed near the western sea border. One South Korean warship sank, killing six sailors and wounding 18. North Korea admitted also suffering casualties but did not say how many.

In 1999, a series of North Korean incursions across the sea border touched off the first naval clash between the sides since the war.

One North Korean boat sank, and about 30 communist sailors were believed to have died. Several South Koreans were injured.