N. Korea says U.S. nuke umbrella for South 'criminal act' to start war

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, June 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea denounced the South on Monday for
"begging" the U.S. for nuclear protection, calling the move a "criminal act"
aimed at starting a nuclear war against the North.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak meets U.S. President Barack Obama in
Washington on Tuesday (Washington time). The two leaders are expected to issue a
joint statement after the summit that includes a U.S. pledge to provide an
"extended nuclear deterrent" for Seoul.
Such official pledge is "an unforgivable criminal act to make South Korea a
nuclear powder keg that can explode at any moment and drive the peninsula into a
U.S. nuclear battlefield by drawing more U.S. nuclear weapons into South Korea,"
the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper published by the Workers' Party,
said.
The U.S. has provided a nuclear umbrella over South Korea since the Korean War
ended in 1953. But it would be the first time for any U.S. president to affirm it
in writing. The meeting follows North Korea's second nuclear test on May 25.
The Rodong Sinmun said South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan "begged for"
the written pledge during his recent meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton.
"The group of traitors, setting the fate of the Korean people at naught, asked
for it and revealed every shred of its atrocious scheme to wage a second Korean
war with nuclear weapons on the back of its U.S. boss," the paper said.
The paper also accused the U.S. military stationed in South Korea of placing
about 1,000 nuclear bombs south of the border and charged their joint military
maneuvers are "nuclear war exercises," it added.
"Our nuclear deterrence is a means of defense for our homeland, but we will never
show mercy to those who dare to wage a nuclear war against us," the paper said,
warning invaders would be turned into "ashes."
Protesting a recent U.N. Security Council resolution condemning its latest
nuclear test, the North said over the weekend that it will "weaponize" all
plutonium it has and start enriching uranium to provide fuel for a light-water
reactor it plans to build. The uranium enrichment plan sparked concerns it may
actually be used to build nuclear weapons.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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