North Korea warns forum of ‘actual war’
The nation is labelled a pariah as it tells disarmament summit of weapons expansion plan
Geneva — North Korea says it will pursue its nuclear deterrent and weapons programme as huge US-South Korean military exercises, which it says model a "pre-emptive nuclear attack" against Pyongyang, continue. South Korea and the US, which led condemnation of North Korea’s latest missile tests at the Conference on Disarmament, said their military drills were to test defensive readiness against possible aggression from the North. On Tuesday, North Korean diplomat Ju Yong-choi told the UN-backed forum that the allies’ annual exercises were "a major cause of escalation of tension that might turn into actual war". "The DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] is firm in its determination to further bolster its defence capabilities with a nuclear deterrent as a pivot so as to put an end to danger of nuclear war caused by the US," the diplomat said. During the 90-minute session, envoys from more than 20 countries including North Korea’s main ally China, as well as Britain, France, Russ...
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