N Korea warns of strike on US By Stephen Lunn, Tokyo correspondent February 07, 2003 NORTH Korea yesterday warned it was prepared to make a pre-emptive strike on US forces if Washington followed through with a plan to beef up its military presence on the Korean peninsula.
North Korean Foreign Ministry deputy director Kim Pyong-gap told the BBC his country was gravely alarmed about US plans to reinforce the existing 37,000-strong military presence with extra troops, aircraft carriers and bombers.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the additional firepower would make it clear to North Korea the US wouldn't be distracted by potential military conflict with Iraq from playing its role as a deterrent to the Stalinist state.
Washington's concern stems from Pyongyang's decision last month to restart nuclear reactors capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium and to withdraw from the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Mr Kim said Pyongyang would consider such a move as a clear signal the US was planning to invade the North or launch attacks against it, and his country was not prepared to sit and wait for that to happen. He said North Korea, which has a standing army of more than a million soldiers and possesses both chemical and biological weapons, could decide to strike first.
North Korea further alarmed the international community yesterday by warning it planned to use the reopened Yongbyon nuclear reactor for civilian electricity generation "at the present stage".
Pyongyang confirmed the plant was ready to restart operations after being mothballed for eight years under an agreement with the US.
Previously North Korea had ruled out military applications for the plant, saying the energy-starved country needed the power. But nuclear experts say the plant could only produce a minuscule amount of electricity, and was designed more with plutonium enrichment in mind.
Increased tensions between Pyongyang and Washington has led to fears in Japan that North Korea will restart its long-range missile testing program as it searches for delivery mechanisms for nuclear, biological and chemical warheads. US intelligence suggests Pyongyang already possesses one or two nuclear weapons and has enough nuclear material at Yongbyon to quickly create six more.
As a result, Tokyo is considering sending two warships to the Sea of Japan off the North Korean coast to monitor for missile testing, which Pyongyang had agreed to cease beyond 2003 but is now showing signs of readying to restart.
Japan is particularly sensitive to the missile issue after North Korea test-fired a missile across its main island and into the northern Pacific four years ago.
The city of Pyongyang is increasingly on a war footing, despite Washington's constant entreaties that it wants dialogue. Air raid drills and black outs are a daily occurrence and billboards exhort the people to act with courage in the coming weeks and months.
While most analysts still believe Pyongyang is posturing in a bid to extract security guarantees and economic concessions from the US, there is a growing body of opinion that the North Korean regime genuinely feels it is next on the US list after Iraq and as a result it is attempting to add more nuclear weapons to its arsenal.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has scheduled an emergency meeting next week to discuss North Korea's nuclear ambitions, at which it is expected to refer the matter to the UN Security Council.
