Published : Aug. 19, 2017 - 12:05
North Korea said Saturday that any countries in the world will not come under threat of its nuclear attack, as long as they don't side with the United States' military action against the North.
The Rodong Sinmun, the official mouthpiece of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said that Pyongyang's measures to reinforce its nuclear armament are not aimed at threatening the world but at reining in the "reckless moves" by the US to start a nuclear war.
An image of North Korea's new intermediate-range ballistic missile in May (AP-Yonhap)
"The US has exaggerated that we're posing a grave threat to the entire world ... But we won't initiate or threaten a nuclear attack against any countries in the world, unless they participate in anti-North military actions by the US," said the newspaper in a commentary.
"(North Korea) has not pursued nuclear and rocket development secretly. Instead, all processes of weapon development have been transparently disclosed, as part of (the North's) efforts to deter a war," the paper asserted.
The commentary is viewed as part of Pyongyang's efforts to ease its isolation in the international community following the recent adoption of a stronger anti-North Korea sanctions resolution at the United Nations Security Council over its repeated missile launches.
An earlier online commentary posted by a North Korean propaganda website in late June also claimed that Pyongyang's nuclear weapons were entirely targeted against the US, instead of South Korea, unless the South supports any US move to launch a nuclear attack on the North. (Yonhap)