N Korean leader warns US, raises spectre of N-disaster
01 Jan 2014
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has warned that the Korean peninsula will be engulfed by ''massive nuclear disaster'' if war breaks out there again and warning the US that it will also not be safe in the event of war.
In his first televised speech, on the New Year's Eve on Wednesday, after the purge and the execution of his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, last month, the North Korean strongman called for improving relations with South Korea.
Kim warned the United States and South Korea against conducting war games on the divided Korean Peninsula, saying, the exercises ''created a situation where a trifle military skirmish can spread into a full-blown war.''
South Korean policy-makers had earlier warned that North Korea may attempt military provocations against the South to build internal unity to cushion the adverse effects of the recent political purge.
''If there is another war on this land, it will bring about a nuclear catastrophe, and the United States won't escape it, either.''
As if to demonstrate its fire power, North Korea fired its first rocket into the outer space in December 2012 and further raised global concerns by conducting its third underground nuclear test in February.
''If the war breaks out again in this land, it will bring about a massive nuclear disaster and the US will never be safe,'' Kim said in his New Year message, broadcast on state television.
''We are faced with a dangerous situation in which a small, accidental military clash can lead to an all-out war.''
Kim said he would not beg for peace and would rather fight on protect his country with all available means.
He also defended the recent party purge and the execution of his powerful uncle Jang Song-thaek as a ''resolute action'' to rid the party of ''scum'' elements.
''Our party took resolute action to remove... scum elements within the party last year,'' Kim said, accusing Jang of trying to build his own power base within the ruling party.
''Our party's timely, accurate decision to purge the anti-party, anti-revolutionary elements helped greatly cement solidarity within our party,'' he said.
Jang, 67, who played a key role in cementing the leadership of the inexperienced Kim Jong-Un after the death of his father Kim Jong-il in December 2011, was executed on 12 December on various charges, including treason and corruption.
