The United States will repel any kind of North Korean attack, State Department spokeswoman Anna Richey-Allen told a US broadcaster Tuesday, in response to Pyongyang's latest threat of "preemptive attack" on South Korea and the US
On Sunday, the North Korean army warned that it will "mercilessly smash the enemy's (South Korea and the US) moves with its own style of special operation and preemptive attack" in defiance of joint drills by South Korea-US special operations teams in the South.
A statement by the General Staff Department of the North Korean People's Army's is announced by Pyongyang's Korean Central TV on March 26, 2017. (Yonhap)
"The ill-famed units is mainly aimed at carrying out the 'beheading operation' for 'removing the headquarters of the North' and the 'preemptive attack' operation for blowing up the nuclear and rocket bases," it said in a General Staff Department statement.
South Korean and US special operations forces, including the US Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden, are joining the allies' Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises for the first time apparently to practice removing the North Korean leadership in case of a conflict. The annual drills that kicked off on March 1 will go through the end of next month.
The will of the US to defend its allies -- South Korea and Japan -- is impregnable, and it is ready to defend itself and its allies from any North Korean attack or provocation, the spokeswoman said to Voice of America over the phone.
The North is urged to make the strategic choice of observing international obligations and promises and returning to sincere dialogue while stopping provocative acts and agitative rhetoric that threaten international peace and stability, she said. (Yonhap)