SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
North Korea 'Ready for War' After US Sends Navy Team to Peninsula
'We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions,' a foreign ministry spokesperson reportedly said
Apr 11, 2017
North Korea said it was "ready for war" and warned of "catastrophic consequences" on Tuesday, just days after the U.S. sent a Navy strike group to the western Pacific Ocean off the Korean peninsula.
"We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions," a foreign ministry spokesman said, according to the hermit kingdom's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "[North Korea] is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S."
The Guardian reports:
The spokesman cited Washington's refusal to rule out a preemptive strike against North Korean missile sites as justification for its nuclear program.
"The prevailing grave situation proves once again that [North Korea] was entirely just when it increased in every way its military capabilities for self-defense and preemptive attack with a nuclear force as a pivot," the spokesman said, according to KCNA.
"We will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms."
Reuters also reported the country's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper as saying, "Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theater but also in the U.S. mainland."
The developments come just days after President Donald Trump approved an airstrike in Syria, which many also saw as a show of strength to North Korea, which fired a ballistics missile test just days before a U.S.-China summit last week.
Trump on Tuesday reiterated that the U.S. was prepared to act alone if China did not pressure its neighbor into dropping its nuclear weapons program.
White House officials have previously said that "all options," including a preemptive strike, are on the table when it comes to dealing with North Korea.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
North Korea said it was "ready for war" and warned of "catastrophic consequences" on Tuesday, just days after the U.S. sent a Navy strike group to the western Pacific Ocean off the Korean peninsula.
"We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions," a foreign ministry spokesman said, according to the hermit kingdom's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "[North Korea] is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S."
The Guardian reports:
The spokesman cited Washington's refusal to rule out a preemptive strike against North Korean missile sites as justification for its nuclear program.
"The prevailing grave situation proves once again that [North Korea] was entirely just when it increased in every way its military capabilities for self-defense and preemptive attack with a nuclear force as a pivot," the spokesman said, according to KCNA.
"We will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms."
Reuters also reported the country's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper as saying, "Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theater but also in the U.S. mainland."
The developments come just days after President Donald Trump approved an airstrike in Syria, which many also saw as a show of strength to North Korea, which fired a ballistics missile test just days before a U.S.-China summit last week.
Trump on Tuesday reiterated that the U.S. was prepared to act alone if China did not pressure its neighbor into dropping its nuclear weapons program.
White House officials have previously said that "all options," including a preemptive strike, are on the table when it comes to dealing with North Korea.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
North Korea said it was "ready for war" and warned of "catastrophic consequences" on Tuesday, just days after the U.S. sent a Navy strike group to the western Pacific Ocean off the Korean peninsula.
"We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions," a foreign ministry spokesman said, according to the hermit kingdom's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "[North Korea] is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S."
The Guardian reports:
The spokesman cited Washington's refusal to rule out a preemptive strike against North Korean missile sites as justification for its nuclear program.
"The prevailing grave situation proves once again that [North Korea] was entirely just when it increased in every way its military capabilities for self-defense and preemptive attack with a nuclear force as a pivot," the spokesman said, according to KCNA.
"We will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms."
Reuters also reported the country's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper as saying, "Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theater but also in the U.S. mainland."
The developments come just days after President Donald Trump approved an airstrike in Syria, which many also saw as a show of strength to North Korea, which fired a ballistics missile test just days before a U.S.-China summit last week.
Trump on Tuesday reiterated that the U.S. was prepared to act alone if China did not pressure its neighbor into dropping its nuclear weapons program.
White House officials have previously said that "all options," including a preemptive strike, are on the table when it comes to dealing with North Korea.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.