Alwaght- North Korea has threatened to launch an “unimaginable” strike on the US, accusing the Trump administration and its South Korean “puppet” allies of seeking to “ignite a war on the Korean peninsula at any cost”.
“The US is running amok by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones. The US should expect it would face [an] unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time,” said a government statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday.
What Pyongyang referred to as the “primary” target is the 100,000-ton nuclear powered aircraft carrier, which is patrolling some 160 kilometers to the east of the peninsula and launched almost 90 F-18 Super Hornet sorties from its deck.
The warning came as massive joint US-South Korean naval drills are underway off the Korean Peninsula, involving colossal American aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan.
The military exercises, regarded by Pyongyang as highly provocative, began on Monday and will run through October 26. They involve 40 warships deployed in a line stretching from the Yellow Sea west of the peninsula into the Sea of Japan.
The presence of the US Navy's biggest warship in Asia, coupled with F-18 Super Hornets and B1-B strategic bombers, comes ahead of Donald Trump’s first official visit to the region, set to start in Japan on 5 November.
The White House is yet to decide whether the President will visit the demilitarised zone (DMZ) during his 12-day trip, which will see him visit South Korea on 7 November and leave for China a day later.
North Korea said America's plans to evacuate US civilians in South Korea beginning on Monday would “intentionally create the tension on the eve of war”.
The current tensions on the Korean Peninsula started following increased provocations by the US which includes military drills and deployment of warships and submarines in the region.
Pyongyang insists that developing its military defenses including nuclear weapons is important to counter incessant provocations by the US including a possible nuclear aggression.
