North Korea has warned the United States that expanding the dispute over its nuclear program would result in what it termed an "uncontrollable catastrophe."
Ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday, the North's state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun said the nuclear issue could only be resolved by N. Korea and the US, "the countries responsible for it."
"If the US persistently tries to internationalize the pending issue between the DPRK and the US in a bid to flee from its responsibility, it will push the situation to an uncontrollable catastrophe," it said.
Meanwhile, Pyongyang's Defense Minister Kim II Chol was quoted by the state news agency as saying that the crisis was reaching "an extremely dangerous phase."
In the event of a nuclear conflict, he stated, North Korea would deal a "merciless punishment" to the United States.
"If they, ignorant of their rival, dare provoke a nuclear war, the army and people of the DPRK led by Kim Jong II, the invincible commander, will rise up to mete out determined and merciless punishment to the US imperialist aggressors with the might of single-hearted unity more powerful than A-bomb," he said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
