Continued US hostility will be considered declaration of war: N.Korea

Seoul, Feb 24

A North Korean Foreign Ministry official on Friday warned that Pyongyang will regard what it claims to be "hostile practices" from the US as a "declaration of war" against the country.

In a statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kwon Jong-gun, Director-General for US affairs at the Ministry, called on Washington to halt its deployment of strategic assets to Korea and combined drills with Seoul to prevent the "vicious cycle" of escalating military tension on the peninsula, reports Yonhap News Agency.

"The US should bear in mind that if it persists in its hostile and provocative practices against the DPRK despite the latter's repeated protest and warning, it can be regarded as a declaration of war against the DPRK," the KCNA said in the report.

DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

He condemned South Korea and the US for staging a tabletop exercise (TTX) at the Pentagon on Wednesday, labelling it as a "nuclear war demonstration against the DPRK".

In a joint press release issued after the practice, the allies said it focused on potential options for responding to the North's nuclear weapons use and allied deterrence, given Pyongyang's "recent aggressive nuclear policy and advancements in nuclear capabilities".

It added the US will "continue to field flexible nuclear forces suited to deterring regional nuclear conflict, including the capability to forward deploy strategic bombers, dual-capable fighter aircraft, and nuclear weapons to the region".

Kwon also denounced the visit of US officials and the South Korean delegation to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, a southeastern coastal base home to key nuclear submarines.