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Large joint drills by the US and South Korean militaries and US threats of a preemptive war against Pyongyang have made outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula "an established fact," a spokesman for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s foreign ministry said.
"The remaining question now is: When will the war break out?” the spokesman said late on Wednesday in a statement carried by its official KCNA news agency.
"We do not wish for a war but shall not hide from it, and should the US miscalculate our patience and light the fuse for a nuclear war, we will surely make the US dearly pay the consequences with our mighty nuclear force which we have consistently strengthened.”
US Air Force F-16 fighter jets take part in a joint aerial drill exercise called 'Vigilant Ace' between US and South Korea, at the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, December 6, 2017. /Reuters Photo
The military exercises called “Vigilant Ace” are designed to enhance joint readiness and operational capability of US extended deterrence, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
A US B-1B bomber on Wednesday joined large-scale US-South Korean military exercises, which coincide with a rare visit to the DPRK by UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman.
DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Guk met Feltman on Wednesday in Pyongyang, and discussed bilateral cooperation and other issues of mutual interest, KCNA said.
Feltman, a former senior US State Department official, is the highest-level UN official to visit the DPRK since 2012. The State Department said on Tuesday he was not carrying any message from Washington.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit China next Wednesday for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and DPRK’s increasing nuclear and missile capability would top the agenda.
(REUTERS)
