North Korea has announced that it has the right to launch an attack on South Korea, claiming regular annual US-South Korean military exercises as an excuse. The exercises have been held since 1975 without incident.
U.S. and South Korean troops began military exercises on Monday dubbed Ulchi Focus Lens that are aimed at testing command structures and communications.
The annual exercises have been held without incident since they began in 1975 and the North usually brands them as a prelude to invasion and nuclear war.
But the drills this year are being held with tensions high on the peninsula after North Korea test-fired a barrage of missiles on July 5 and reports last week it may preparing to test a nuclear weapon.
In its KCNA news agency, North Korea said the drills were "an undisguised military threat and blackmail against the DPRK (North Korea) and a war action."
"The Korean Peoples' Army side, therefore, reserves the right to undertake a pre-emptive action for self-defense against the enemy at a crucial time it deems necessary to defend itself," the agency cited an army spokesman as saying.
The article also mentions the suspicious activities at a suspected North Korean nuclear test site, but does not provide any new details on that. Now we have to see if Venezuela rattles it's saber.
Just a thought:
Would North Korea test an Iranian bomb? North Korea needs money and the Iranians could afford to cover the costs and put a nice chunk of change in the dictator’s pocket. Also, winter’s coming, the Iranians could throw in lots of heating oil to sweeten the deal.