- North Korea would launch a ballistic missile attack on
the United States if Washington made a pre-emptive strike against the communist
state's nuclear facility, the man described as Pyongyang's "unofficial
spokesman" claimed yesterday.
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- Kim Myong-chol, who has links to the Stalinist regime,
told reporters in Tokyo that a US strike on the nuclear facility at Yongbyon
"means nuclear war".
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- "If American forces carry out a pre-emptive strike
on the Yongbyon facility, North Korea will immediately target, carry the
war to the US mainland," he said, adding that New York, Washington
and Chicago would be "aflame".
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- A pre-emptive strike on Yongbyon is one of the strategic
options in the crisis over North Korea's nuclear arms program. The US has
deployed 24 long-range bombers to the Pacific base of Guam capable of launching
such a strike.
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- Mr Kim, who has written a text studied by North Korean
military leaders, predicted North Korea would restart its reprocessing
plant to make weapons-grade plutonium this month.
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- A nuclear weapon would be produced by the end of next
month, with another five by the end of the year, he said. This was on top
of a suspected nuclear arsenal of 100 weapons.
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- The ultimate aim of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il,
was the "neutralisation of the American factor" in the region,
Mr Kim said.
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- http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/07/1046826533281.html
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