N. Korea vows 'every necessary measure' to protect its sovereignty

SEOUL, March 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea vowed Wednesday that it will take "every
necessary measure" to protect its sovereignty, accusing the United States and
South Korea of holding "nuclear war exercises" to invade the communist country.
"These war exercises were kicked off by the U.S. and the South Korean puppet
war-like forces across South Korea at a time when ... the situation has grown so
tense that a war may break out any moment," the North's Foreign Ministry
spokesman said.
"The DPRK, exposed to the potential threat of the U.S. and its allied forces,
will take every necessary measure to protect its sovereignty," the spokesman said
in a statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency. DPRK stands for
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
South Korea and the U.S. are holding their joint annual military drill south of
the inter-Korean border, which Pyongyang insists is a rehearsal for a second
Korean War.
"The war maneuvers are nuclear war exercises designed to mount a preemptive
attack on the DPRK in terms of their scale and contents from A to Z," the
spokesman said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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