North Korea Threatens Nuclear Retaliation If US Attacks

White House Says Statement 'Isn't Really a Threat'

With President Trump hyping the deployment of a US carrier strike group to North Korea as a “armada” of “very powerful” ships, North Korea has issued a statement through its official newspaper threatening nuclear retaliation in the event of a US attack.

The statement claimed the North Korean army is “keenly watching” US military movements, with “our nuclear sight focused on the US invasionary bases” both on the Korean Peninsula and across the Pacific, and even to the US mainland in the event fighting breaks out.

The White House was quick to dismiss the North Korean statement, with Sean Spicer insisting “there is no evidence North Korea has that capability at this time.” He went on to say what North Korea said “isn’t really a threat” because they can’t act on it.

Spicer is correct in as much as there remains considerable doubt about North Korea’s ability to take semi-successful underground nuclear tests and turn them into deliverable warheads, though even as a conventional force North Korea retain substantial retaliatory capabilities should the United States attacked.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.