Seoul: North Korea threatened a "powerful"
attack if the US and South Korea proceed with joint military
drills next month, warning on Thursday that it could even resort to
nuclear means.
The threat, routinely issued before South Korea and the
US embark on regularly scheduled military exercises, was made
just hours after President Barack Obama's special envoy to
North Korea arrived in Seoul to discuss the North.
Communist North Korea, believed to have enough weaponised
plutonium to make at least a half-dozen atomic bombs, quit
six-nation disarmament-for-aid negotiations last year. It also
conducted a nuclear test, earning stricter UN sanctions.
China, the US and other nations involved in the
disarmament talks have been trying to draw North Korea back to
the negotiating table.
US envoy Stephen Bosworth met today with South Korea's Wi
Sung-lac after a stop in Beijing for talks with Chinese
nuclear envoy Wu Dawei the previous day.
During his Beijing visit, Bosworth called for the quick
resumption of the nuclear negotiations with North Korea. He
heads to Tokyo tomorrow.
The North has demanded a lifting of the sanctions and
peace talks with the US on formally ending the 1950-53 Korean
War before it returns to the negotiations.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 19:28