Korean Peninsula pushed closer to brink of nuclear war: North Korea

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Accusing the US of conducting “different forms of espionage” at an “unprecedented scale,” North Korea said the Korean Peninsula has been pushed “closer to the brink of a nuclear war.”

In a research paper published by North Korea’s Foreign Ministry and released on state-run KCNA on Monday, Pyongyang said Washington is making desperate efforts “preceding military process for igniting a nuclear war” on the Korean Peninsula, where, according to Pyongyang, "interests of big powers are intermingled."

“Such bellicose moves of the US have pushed the military tensions on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia already plunged into an extremely unstable situation closer to the brink of a nuclear war,” it said.

“The US has had its eye of greed on the Korean peninsula, the gateway to the Asian continent, since the mid-19th century, and illegally occupied South Korea in the guise of ‘liberator’ and ‘protector’ right after the end of the Second World War,” said Pyongyang.

Slamming the US as “a wrecker of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region, the Foreign Ministry’s paper said: “The US has deliberately fabricated various incidents and events and steadily escalated its nuclear threat and blackmail against the DPRK.”

DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.

It accused the “current ruling forces in the White House” of “more openly pursuing the inveterate attempt for mounting a preemptive nuclear attack on the DPRK in cahoots with the South Korean puppet regime led by Yoon Suk Yeol hell-bent on sycophancy toward the US.”

“The present ruling forces of the US, which came up with the ‘minutely coordinated practical method of approaching the DPRK’ and touted ‘resumption of dialogue’ and ‘diplomatic engagement’ after taking office, have unhesitatingly revealed their hostile military attempt against the DPRK,” it added.

Pyongyang warned in case a war breaks out on the Korean peninsula, "it will rapidly expand into a world war and a thermonuclear war unprecedented in the world."

"This will entail the most catastrophic and irreversible consequences to peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world," it added.

North Korea also held mass rallies in Pyongyang against "war provocation of aggression" by the US on 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.