DPRK vows to hit back if ROK strikes Pyongyang

PYONGYANG－A senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has warned the Republic of Korea of "total destruction and ruin" if it "adopts military confrontation "against Pyongyang, reported the official Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday.

Kim Yo-jong, vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and younger sister of the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong-un, gave the warning in a press statement on Monday concerning a comment made by the ROK's Defense Minister Suh Wook describing preemptive strike capabilities against the DPRK.

Kim said the ROK is not her country's principal enemy. "Unless the ROK army takes any military action against our state, it will not be regarded as a target of our attack," she said.

However, she added that "such nonsense itself is a very dangerous and nasty expression".

"In case the ROK opts for military confrontation with us, our nuclear combat force will have to inevitably carry out its duty. It is the primary mission of the nuclear force to prevent such war before anything else. But in case of war, its mission will convert into one of eliminating the enemy's armed forces with a strike," Kim warned.

If the situation reaches such a phase, a dreadful attack will be launched and the ROK army "will have to face a miserable fate little short of total destruction and ruin", she added.

Kim made a similar warning on Saturday, saying that the ROK military chief's reckless and intemperate rhetoric about the "preemptive strike" had further worsened inter-Korean relations and military tension on the Korean Peninsula.

Xinhua