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Nkorea warns preemptive action { February 6 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2731305.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2731305.stm
Thursday, 6 February, 2003, 10:30 GMT
N Korea warns US of pre-emptive action
North Korea has warned the United States that any decision to send more troops to the region could lead the North to make a pre-emptive attack on American forces.
US officials said on Tuesday that Washington was considering strengthening its military forces in the Pacific Ocean as a deterrent against North Korea.
They said the reinforcements would help signal that a possible war with Iraq was not distracting the US from a nuclear stand-off with the North.
North Korea also warned that any US strike against its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon would trigger "full scale war".
The North said on Wednesday that it had reactivated the nuclear site and its operations were now going ahead "on a normal footing".
Pyongyang says it will use the facilities to produce electricity "at the present stage".
However, the US and nuclear experts say the Yongbyon reactor, which has been mothballed since 1994, is too small to generate meaningful amounts of electricity.
They fear that North Korea's real purpose is to resume production of weapons-grade plutonium.
Growing alarm
The threat to strike first against US troops in the region came from North Korea's foreign ministry deputy director, Ri Pyong-gap.
Speaking to the BBC's Mike Thompson in Pyongyang, Mr Ri said his government was becoming increasingly alarmed at signs that Washington planned to send more aircraft carriers, bombers and troops to the region.
He said such actions would mean that the US was either planning to invade the North or launch attacks against it.
In response, he insisted, Pyongyang would not just sit and wait and could decide to strike first if necessary.
The country currently has a standing army of more than one million soldiers, whilst America has around 37,000 thousand troops based in South Korea.
Our correspondent says tensions on the streets of Pyongyang are tangible. Air raid drills and blackouts are becoming twice-daily rituals and huge posters calling for courage in the fight ahead cover billboards and walls.
North Korean denial
The North Koreans are believed to possess one or two nuclear weapons already, as well as enough spent fuel rods to make four or six more.
However, analysts say that reactivating Yongbyon reactor gives North Korea the capacity to mass produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, raising fears of a nuclear arms race in Asia.
Tension has been building in the region ever since claims by Washington that the communist regime in Pyongyang had admitted to resuming the development of nuclear weapons in violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
North Korea denies the allegations, which it says are being used to justify an imminent American invasion.
Analysts say the North may be trying to force the US to negotiate a non-aggression pact, or strengthen its nuclear arsenal while the US is preoccupied with Iraq.
The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose inspectors were expelled from the plant in December, is due to hold an emergency meeting next week on the nuclear crisis.
The meeting is expected to refer the dispute to the UN Security Council.
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