N. Korea says U.S. preparing for war with new fighters in S. Korea

SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korea vowed to retain its nuclear weapons on
Thursday and accused the United States of preparing for a preemptive nuclear
strike by deploying new fighters and spy planes to South Korea.

Pyongyang routinely criticizes the U.S. military stationed in South Korea and
says it is compelled to keep nuclear weapons as a deterrent.
The U.S. military plans to replace half of its tank-fighting Apache helicopters
in South Korea with F-16 multi-role fighters in March. The Apaches are expected
be redeployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the fighter jets and
other weapons set to be deployed to the Asia-Pacific region, such as the U-2
reconnaissance plane, are evidence of an increasing nuclear threat from the U.S.
"It is absolutely unpardonable crime for the U.S. to get frantic with arms
buildup for aggression aimed at a preemptive nuclear strike at its dialogue
partner behind the scene while paying lip-service to dialogue and the like," the
KCNA said.
Such criticism is not new, but the latest comments may have added significance as
they come just days after the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama.
Analysts say Pyongyang may be trying to draw Obama's attention with its recent
rash of commentaries saying it intends to keep its nuclear weapons.
Other countries in the region -- South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia
-- are trying to resolve the dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons under a
2007 deal, in which North Korea will receive energy and diplomatic incentives in
exchange for ending its nuclear program.
The KCNA said Washington is "misleading the public opinion" by asserting that
Pyongyang's nuclear drive is to blame for military tension on the Korean
Peninsula.
"The DPRK will never do such thing (denuclearization) first unless the U.S. rolls
back its hostile policy toward the DPRK and fundamentally removes its nuclear
threat to the latter," it said. DPRK is the acronym for the North's official
name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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