North Korea Threatens Of 'Mercilessly Punishing' US, Warns A 'New Round Of Korean War'

A few days before the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War (1950-53) that North Korea ignited by invading South Korea on June 25, the former is threatening to end the conflict with a nuclear attack on the United States. The Korean War isn't officially over since no peace treaty was signed by the warring countries. The agreement signed July 27, 1953, was only an armistice that ended the fighting, but not the war itself.

In a statement carried only by the Russian state-owned news agency, TASS, (the largest in Russia), the North Korean embassy in Moscow said the country will deploy its nuclear weapons against the U.S. in "a particularly sensational event." The embassy also mentioned it had missiles and nuclear weapons "capable of mercilessly punishing those who dare to raise their hand at it."

According to the TASS report, the North Koreans said, “This year, the U.S. military has been carrying out various kinds of military maneuvers in South Korea and its vicinity with the purpose of striking North Korea quickly. A new round of the Korean War will add a particularly sensational event to the history of mankind, which will put an end to another empire, whose name is the United States."

North Korea warns the U.S. if a new war is ignited on the Korean Peninsula "the United States could be destroyed." It assailed the U.S. for fostering a war on the Peninsula, deploying new military bases in South Korea, conducting military maneuvers and deploying American troops to attack it.

North Korea watchers noted this statement was revealed a few days before June 25 and released only by TASS. Some believe the warning is really directed at South Korea and Japan since Pyongyang does not have a single operational international continental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead on a target in the U.S. mainland.

Attacking South Korea and Japan is a far easier proposition, however. North Korea's unimpeded series of short- to medium-range ballistic missile tests since 2018 were aimed at finding ways to evade the American-made land-based MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) system and the sea- and land-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System deployed by South Korea and Japan.

Military analysts said the varying altitudes to which North launched its missiles are part of its effort to find ways to evade both defense systems. North Korea might have attained some success in this regard, according to one expert. He said recent events showed the U.S. does not have an effective weapon capable of shooting down ballistic missiles of all kinds.