North Korea escalated its provocative rhetoric on Thursday, warning that its military is authorized to wage “cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified” nuclear strikes to protect against the United States.
“The moment of explosion is approaching fast. No one can say a war will break out in Korea or not and whether it will break out today or tomorrow,” read the statement of an unnamed military spokesman.
The statement, which was carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), informs the White House and the Pentagon that “the merciless operation of its revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified.”
The warlike rhetoric is the latest escalation in a series of threats from Pyongyang, which claims the joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises taking place in the South are in preparation for an invasion.
