N. Korea says interception of its satellite would lead to war

SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea warned on Monday it will retaliate against any attempt to shoot down its satellite, saying interfering with its peaceful space activity would mean war.

U.S. and South Korean intelligence sources believe North Korea is preparing to
test-fire a long-range missile that is theoretically capable of striking Alaska
or Hawaii. Pyongyang claims it is getting ready to launch a communications
satellite into orbit.
"We will retaliate any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes
with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means," a spokesman for
the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said, specifically naming South
Korea, the U.S. and Japan.
"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war," the
spokesman said in a statement carried in English by the Korean Central News
Agency (KCNA).
Japanese military officials have suggested they are considering intercepting if
North Korea does launch a missile.
The statement comes as South Korea and the United States begin their annual Key
Resolve and Foal Eagle drill on Monday, in what could be a possible indication
that North Korea may try to launch the supposed satellite during the joint drill
that continues until March 20.
The North also said it is immediately cutting off its military communications
with South Korea, the last official inter-Korean channel that remains open.
The North said the military communications channel would be severed during the
12-day joint drill and ordered its entire military to be fully combat ready,
saying the joint war exercise aimed at launching the "second Korean War."
"As an immediate measure we will enforce a more strict military control and cut
off the north-south military communications," the military spokesman said.
"It is nonsensical to maintain normal communications channel at a time when the
South Korean puppets are getting frantic with the above-said war exercises,
leveling guns at fellow countrymen in league with foreign forces," he said in a
statement carried in English by the Korean Central News Agency.
In rare general-level talks with the U.S.-led United Nations forces here last
week, North Korea demanded the drill be canceled. North Korea views the military
exercise a preparation for a war, while South Korea and the U.S. say it is purely
defensive.
In this year's Key Resolve and Foal Eagle drill, South Korea and the U.S. will
mobilize 26,000 U.S. troops and an unspecified number of South Korean troops to
test their combat ability in case of an emergency on the peninsula. The U.S. will
also introduce a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis
(CVN-74), of the U.S. Navy's 3rd Fleet and a few Aegis destroyers for the
exercises.
"It is the invariable stand of our revolutionary armed forces fully ready for
all-out confrontation not to allow any enemies to intrude into our territory,
territorial waters and territorial air even 0.001 mm," the military spokesman
said.
Inter-Korean relations dipped to the lowest point in decades after conservative
President Lee Myung-bak took office about a year ago, adopting a tougher stance
on North Korea's nuclear program and withdrawing Seoul's unconditional aid to the
North.
In recent weeks, North Korea has warned it is taking an "all-out confrontational
posture" against South Korea, threatened military clashes along the western sea
border and said it cannot ensure the safety of South Korean civil flights in its
airspace.