N Korea warns of nuclear disaster, threatens US

The North Korean leader says the United States will not be safe and warned about a nuclear disaster in the event of a war on the peninsula.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said Wednesday the Korean peninsula would be engulfed by “massive nuclear disaster” if war breaks out there again.

“If the war breaks out again in this land, it will bring about a massive nuclear disaster and the US will never be safe,” Kim said in his New Year message, broadcast on state TV.

He noted that the Korean peninsula is currently in a very dangerous situation in which a small clash could lead to an all-out war.

“We are faced with a dangerous situation in which a small, accidental military clash can lead to an all-out war,” he said.

Kim added he would not beg for peace and vowed to protect the impoverished North with “strong self-defense” measures against enemies.

In his New Year message, Kim also hailed the recent execution of his uncle and the vice chairman of the National Defense Commission as a resolute action which has strengthened unity in his country. He said Jang Song-thaek was trying to build his own powerbase within the ruling party.

The Korean Peninsula has been gripped with a cycle of military rhetoric over the past few months with the United States and South Korea holding joint military exercises over the past months.

Meanwhile North Korea says it is developing a nuclear arsenal in an effort to protect itself from the US military, which occasionally deploys nuclear-powered warships and aircraft in the region which are able to carry atomic weapons.

About 28,500 American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines are deployed in South Korea.