North Korea issues chilling warning to Donald Trump saying US military drill with South Korea would be ‘pouring petrol on fire’
Washington is due to conduct joint military exercises with Seoul tomorrow but Pyongyang believes it is a rehearsal for a possible invasion.
NORTH Korea has warned the United States that it will be "pouring gasoline on fire" by conducting an annual war game in the South next week.
Pyongyang issued the statement today after months of heightened tensions between the two countries that have seen US President Donald Trump threaten the pariah state with “fire and fury”.
North Korea tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month that appeared to bring much of the US mainland within firing range of the rogue state.
It sparked an intense war of words between the two sides that included a direct threat against the US’ overseas territory of Guam - which is home to an American military base.
The planned rocket salvo was delayed by the North Korean leader last week but he warned it could go ahead depending on Washington's next move.
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South Korea and their American allies are due to begin the ‘Ulchi Freedom Guardian’ joint military exercise tomorrow that will see tens of thousands of troops on manoeuvres.
Pyongyang views the annual exercise as a highly provocative rehearsal for a possible invasion of their territory.
An editorial in North Korea’s state newspaper Rodong Sinmun read: "The joint exercise is the most explicit expression of hostility against us, and no one can guarantee that the exercise won't evolve into actual fighting.
"The Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military exercises will be like pouring gasoline on fire and worsen the state of the [Korean] peninsula."
Warning of an "uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war", it added: "If the United States is lost in a fantasy that war on the peninsula is at somebody else's doorstep far away from them across the Pacific, it is far more mistaken than ever."
Seoul and Washington have said the largely computer-simulated UFG exercise, which dates back to 1976, will go ahead as planned, but did not comment on whether the drills would be scaled back in an effort to ease tensions.
Around 17,500 US troops will participate in this year's drills - a cutback from last year - according to numbers provided by Seoul's defence ministry.
But South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported the allies were considering scrapping an initial plan to bring in two aircraft carriers to the peninsula to take part in the drill.
South Korea's top military officer said today that the current security situation on the peninsula was "more serious than at any other time" amid the North's growing nuclear and missile threats, and warned Pyongyang of merciless retaliation against any attack.
"If the enemy provokes, (our military) will retaliate resolutely and strongly to make it regret bitterly," said General Jeong Kyeong-Doo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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