International   

U.S. preparing for attack: N. Korea

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: North Korea on Monday accused the United States of preparing for a pre-emptive strike to settle the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.

This followed reports, late on Sunday, that North Korea's Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan had recently told a delegation of U.S. experts in Pyongyang that his country would demand 500,000 tonnes of fuel oil and other benefits as the price for taking the first step towards de-nuclerisation.

North Korea had conducted a nuclear-weapon test last October, and the steps indicated by Pyongyang were the possibility of shutting down a reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex and the willingness to allow inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

These reported offers were not immediately confirmed by North Korea itself.

Blowing hot and cold in the run-up to the resumption of six-party talks, scheduled for February 8 in Beijing, on this nuclear crisis, North Korea's state news agency said: "In a flagrant show of its [American] attempt to attack our republic first, the imperialist U.S. has stationed a large number of invasive forces in and around South Korea." The official agency added "the U.S. wants to deploy the USS Ronald Reagan [aircraft carrier] in Japan, in addition to the USS Kitty Hawk."

The U.S was also carrying out other air manoeuvres with "an eye on the Korean peninsula," it was further alleged.

The two Koreas and the U.S. are among the six parties. China hosts these talks, and the other participants are Japan and Russia.

Of the two countries named by North Korea as the sites of U.S. "invasive forces," Japan quickly rejected Pyongyang's reported demand for fuel oil supplies.

North Korea's accusations about U.S. military preparations acquire importance in the context of Washington's latest deployment of radar-evading stealth fighter bombers in South Korea for bilateral "training" urposes.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Speculation rife as Putin nears end of his second term
Talk to the Tigers, TNA tells Colombo
A woman's record in space
U.S. preparing for attack: N. Korea
No plans for Harry Potter e-book
U.K. police studying Russian request
Thailand police chief sacked
Attacking Iran will be disastrous, U.S. warned
China-Namibia ties strong: Hu
Light at end of tunnel: Musharraf
Jamaat leaders up-end vision of Manmohan
Ahamed calls on Dubai ruler

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu