U.S. Attack on N. Korea's Nuke Plants Would Trigger 'Total War'
Thursday: South Korean soldiers take part in a military exercise in Yeonki, South Korea.
SEOUL, South Korea — Pre-emptive attacks on North Korea's nuclear facilities would trigger a "total war," the communist state warned Thursday after U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld labeled the North's government a "terrorist regime."
The harsh rhetoric came a day after North Korea said it was putting the operation of its nuclear facilities on a "normal footing," triggering fears it was about to produce weapons materials.
"When the U.S. makes a surprise attack on our peaceful facilities, it will spark off a total war," the state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary carried by North Korea's official news agency, KCNA.
Ri Pyong Gap, a spokesman and deputy director at the North's Foreign Ministry, told The London-based Guardian newspaper that the impoverished country was entitled to launch a pre-emptive strike against the United States.
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