The remarks were aimed at a US nuclear-powered submarine arriving at a port in Busan.
Seoul, South Korea:
North Korea said on Thursday that the deployment of US weapons such as aircraft carriers, bombers or missile submarines to South Korea would meet the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons, state media KCNA reported, citing a statement by the country’s Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam. Can do ,
The comments heighten the danger as each side escalates a show of military force in the standoff over the isolated country’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
The Defense Minister’s statement also accused the United States and South Korea of raising tensions in the region by criticizing the first meeting of their Nuclear Consultative Group.
“The increased visibility of the deployment of strategic nuclear submarines and other strategic assets may fall under the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons specified in DPRK law,” the statement said.
DPRK is an abbreviation for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The remarks were aimed at an Ohio-class US nuclear-powered submarine that arrived at a port in the southern city of Busan earlier this week.
“The phasing out of the military conflict on the Korean Peninsula has emerged as an alarming reality,” the KCNA report said.
The report comes after a US soldier crossed the border into North Korea on Tuesday at a time of rising tensions between the two Koreas and the United States.
North Korea has not yet commented on the incident involving the US soldier.
Last year, the reclusive state codified a new, comprehensive nuclear law and declared its status as a nuclear-armed state “irrevocable”.
KCNA quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as saying at the time, “The most important importance in formulating a nuclear weapons policy is to draw an immutable line so that there can be no bargaining on our nuclear weapons.”
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