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US: We take North Korea’s ‘state of war’ threat seriously

jammas.hussain20130330223957803The United States says it takes North Korea’s threat that the Korean Peninsula has entered a state of war seriously, and has vowed to remain in close contact with its ally South Korea.

“We’ve seen reports of a new and unconstructive statement from North Korea. We take these threats seriously and remain in close contact with our South Korean allies,” Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, North Korea declared that it is in a “state of war” with South Korea, warning that any provocation by Seoul and Washington will trigger an all-out nuclear war.

The North has also threatened to shut down a joint industrial plant with the South, located just across the northern side of the border. The Kaesong Industrial Complex is staffed by South and North Koreans.

Pyongyang said henceforth “the North-South relations will be entering a state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly.”

“The long-standing situation of the Korean Peninsula being neither at peace nor at war is finally over,” said a statement issued jointly by the government, political parties and other organizations.

Pyongyang also warned that if Washington and Seoul launched a preemptive attack, the conflict “will not be limited to a local war, but develop into an all-out war, a nuclear war.”

On Tuesday, North Korea said that its military should be prepared to attack “all US military bases in the Asia-Pacific region, including the US mainland, Hawaii, and Guam” and South Korea.

“All artillery troops including strategic rocket units and long-range artillery units are to be placed under class-A combat readiness,” it added.

The announcement came days after South Korea and the US signed a new military pact in response to what they called even low-level provocations by Pyongyang.

On March 11, Seoul and Washington launched a week-long annual joint military maneuver near the Korean Peninsula despite warnings from Pyongyang. The maneuver involved 10,000 South Korean soldiers and about 3,000 US troops.

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