North Korea said on Tuesday it has moved strategic rocket and artillery units into top combat position in preparation for a strike against the United States, according to ABCNews. This new threat comes as the United Nations recently issued tough new sanctions on the mysterious country.
"From this moment, the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army will be putting in combat duty posture No. 1 all that will target all enemy objects in U.S. invasionary bases on its mainland, Hawaii and Guam," a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) read. "A first strike nuclear attack with the result to engulf Washington." It also threatened invading and hitting South Korea with missiles. In response, the South Korea's Presidential Office downplayed the threat saying, "we have not detected any special movements in the North Korean military.
The United States and South Korea had recently signed a military pact providing for a joint response to even low-level provocation.
They signed a "counter-provocation plan" meant to fine tune joint reaction to any future North Korean military strikes. The Pentagon said details of the plan were kept classified. Twenty years ago, North Korea also put the country on "pre-war" status after it announced, at that time, it was abandoning the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
China, a traditional ally of North Korea, which provides critical food aid, urged restraint on the part of North Korea, which claimed they have developed nuclear warheads that can fit on the end of a long-range missiles capable of hitting the U.S. Experts question the veracity of the claim, believing it to be years away. Even still, with the bellicose languarge, and North Korea recently nullifying the armistice agreement on March 5 that ended the Korean War, political analysts say to take the threats seriously.
South Korea marked the third anniversary on Tuesday of the sinking of a navy ship that killed 46 sailors that it and the United States have blamed on the North. Pyongyang denied the charge.
Pyongyang said the recent sanctions placed on them are part of a Washington-led plot to topple its leadership.
