North Korea braced for 'all-out war' as tensions mount

 

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-II vowed no compromise and said he was braced for "all-out war" as tension mounted on Sunday before a UN vote on whether to impose sanctions on the communist state for its missile tests.

Kim, in his first reported remarks since his regime test-fired seven missiles into the sea on Wednesday, was reportedly unyielding.

"The General has declared that not even a tiny concession will be made to the imperialist US invaders, our arch enemy," said a broadcast on North Korean state television, as monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Kim, who never speaks himself in public, said that if the United States took "revenge," it would mean "all-out war."

"It is not empty talk for the DPRK (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) to respond with revenge to any revenge by the enemy and with all-out war to an all-out war," the television said.

It added: "It is out of the General's conviction, desire and courage that we should respond to the enemy's knife with a sword and to the enemy's gun with a cannon."

North Korea, which declared last year it had nuclear weapons, in November walked out of six-way talks on ending its nuclear program, protesting a set of US financial sanctions.

Last week's missile launch included the new Taepodong-2, which was believed to be capable of reaching Alaska or Hawaii but which quickly crashed into the Sea of Japan (East Sea).