N. Korea threatens to ‘smash’ U.S. military options against Pyongyang

North Korea on Wednesday issued a statement by the spokesman of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA), denouncing the United States for its military options against the North such as a “preventive war," the “beheading operation," a “secret operation” and a “pre-emptive strike.” The North criticized the options by numbering them one by one.

“The U.S. authorities including Trump have reached an extremely reckless and rash phase for an actual war after crossing the red line,” North Korea said in the statement. “The General Staff of the KPA clarifies at home and abroad its resolute stand as follows to mercilessly smash all sorts of military provocation,” it added.

The North specifically cited not only U.S. strategic assets including B-52, B-1B, B-2, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines but also mentioned U.S. military units such as the 82nd airborne division, the 25th light infantry division, and the 10th mountain division, denouncing the United States for its “military provocation.”


Regarding the August 5 remarks by President Trump’s top security adviser Herbert McMaster that the U.S. was preparing for a “preventive war” with North Korea, the North claimed that the plan was “an extremely provocative aggression war concept,” vowing to counter it with “a just all-out war” and to “turn the U.S. mainland into the theatre of a nuclear war” if a sign of U.S. action for “preventive war” is observed.

Referring to the “beheading operation” aimed at removing North Korea’s supreme leadership including leader Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang argued, “No matter how much specially they have been trained and prepared, the commandos group will be completely eliminated … before they reach the supreme headquarters.”


The North also reacted sensitively to the U.S. plan for a “secret operation” aimed at infiltrating U.S. special forces troops into North Korea to create chaos and disperse large amounts of leaflets for psychological warfare. Mentioning a U.S. Air Force drill in California last month involving B-52H strategic bombers dropping bombs containing propaganda leaflets for psychological warfare, the North claimed, “The anti-U.S. resistance of all the people including three million Children's Union members and five million youths will smash (the secret operation) to pieces.”

North Korea also said that a preemptive strike is “no longer the monopoly of the U.S.,” threatening to “burn up all the objects in the areas under the control of the first and third field armies of the (South Korean) forces including Seoul the moment the U.S. reckless attempt at preemptive attack is spotted, and to launch an “all-out attack for neutralizing the launch bases of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces in the Pacific operational theatre together with the simultaneous strike at the depth of the whole of the southern half.”

In-Chan Hwang hic@donga.com