- Pyongyang has warned that a large-scale conflict is ‘lurking like a time bomb
- Blamed US policy in the region as it warned of the ‘dark vortex of nuclear war’
- Comes amid fears Kim Jong-un is plotting a military parade a day before the start of South Korea’s Winter Olympic Games
North Korea has said that the ‘dark vortex of nuclear war’ is hanging over the region because of US ‘military tensions’.
Pyongyang blamed hostile American policy in the region as it warned a large-scale conflict was ‘lurking like a time bomb’.
State media issued the warning amid fears Kim Jong-un is plotting a major military parade for February 8 – just a day before South Korea holds the opening ceremony for its Winter Olympic Games.
North Korea, under Kim Jong-un (pictured) has said that the ‘dark vortex of nuclear war’ is hanging over the region because of US ‘military tensions’
Rodong Sinmun newspaper wrote: ‘What (the U.S.) wishes all the time is not the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula but the instability of the situation and the aggravation of military tensions.
Choe Song-ho, an international politics researcher at the North’s Social Science Institute, made reference to America’s moves to impose sanctions of Pyongyang and its bid to strengthen strategic assets in the Asia-Pacific region.
He said in the article: ‘The situation of the Korean Peninsula is still acute even if the currents of dialogue and peace flow ostensibly. A dark vortex of nuclear war is lurking like a time bomb beneath them.’
Meanwhile, there are fears that North Korea is preparing to stage an ‘intimidating’ major event to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of its military on February 8 – just one day before the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Pyongyang blamed hostile American policy in the region as it warned a large-scale conflict was ‘lurking like a time bomb’. Dictator Kim Jong-un is pictured at a factory in the city this week
State media issued the warning amid fears Kim Jong-un is plotting a major military parade for February 8 – just a day before South Korea holds the opening ceremony for its Winter Olympic Games
A major show of military power could create anger in South Korea, which is hoping the games will be a symbol of peace and stability.
Seoul has agreed to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s last-minute proposal to send a delegation to the games and will have its athletes march together with the North Korean team under a blue-and-white ‘unification flag.’
Pyongyang residents have been assembling every day in temperatures hovering around minus 15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) to practice for what is expected to be a mass rally by civilians in Kim Il Sung Square.
Open-source satellite imagery obtained by outside analysts suggests military units are training at an airfield on the outskirts of the city for a possible military parade.
It comes as the North has been stepping up its verbal attacks on the United States for what it claims is an effort to ruin an easing of tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul ahead of the Olympics.
The U.S. has agreed to postpone joint military exercises with the South until after the Olympics and Paralympics are over, but North Korea is now demanding they be scrapped indefinitely.
The North’s media has also accused Washington of trying to provoke tensions by sending aircraft carriers, bombers and stealth fighter aircraft into the region.