North Korea accuses United States of provocation,saying it's `not afraid of war'

[Brooke Rowe <global-national-security@pacbell.net>]

North Korea accuses United States of provocation, saying it's `not
afraid of war'

(EXCERPT) By Associated Press, 12/8/2001 07:17

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korea accused the United States on
Saturday of trying to start a war against the communist state, and
said it will respond to war with war.

Saturday's statement came after President Bush issued a fresh warning
last week to Iraq and North Korea that there would be consequences if
they produce weapons of mass destruction. Bush demanded that the North
allow U.N. experts to inspect its suspected nuclear weapons program.

The North's Stalinist regime regularly issues strident, hardline
statements against the United States.

Bush's demand reflected an ''attempt to provoke a new war of
aggression against the (North),'' Minju Joson, a state-run North
Korean newspaper, said in a commentary.

''The Korean people and the People's Army do not want war but are not
afraid of it,'' it said. ''Now that the U.S. makes desperate efforts
to unleash a war of aggression against the Democratic People's
Republic of (North) Korea, it is fully ready to react to the war with
a war of justice.''

The commentary was carried by the North's official foreign news
outlet, KCNA, which was monitored in Seoul.

North Korea has escalated its anti-U.S. rhetoric after Washington
deployed more fighter jets to South Korea last month to fill in for a
U.S. aircraft carrier that left the region to support the American
military campaign in Afghanistan.

The North has also ignored Bush's offer in June to open dialogue aimed
at curbing North Korea's missile and nuclear programs and its massive
deployment of troops near the border with South Korea.

The Korean peninsula was divided into the communist North and
pro-Western South in 1945. The 1950-53 Korean War ended without a
peace treaty, and the two sides are still technically at war. 

http://www.Boston.com/dailynews/342/world/North_Korea_accuses_United_Sta:.shtml

---------------------------
   Brooke Rowe
   Associate Librarian
   The American War Library
   http://www.americanwarlibrary.com