hankyoreh

North Korea's military chief warned on Friday that his country would further enhance military preparedness against the U.S. if Washington fails to immediately stop its hostility toward the communist country.

Kim Kyok-sik, chief of the General Staff of the (North) Korean People's Army, said that a tense situation still prevails on the Korean Peninsula due to the U.S.'s persistent hostile policy toward the DPRK. The DPRK, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is the North's official name.

Kim made the remarks during a report at a national meeting held Friday to mark the 47th anniversary of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's start of "Songun (military first) revolutionary leadership."

"If the U.S. continues putting pressure upon the DPRK in the future, under the pretext of the nuclear issue and refuses to stop the ceaseless large-scale war exercises and massive arms buildup now under way in South Korea in preparation for a preemptive attack on the DPRK, its army and people will further round off the retaliatory means powerful enough to counter the U.S. nuclear attack and preemptive strike in order to protect their dignity, sovereignty and vital rights," Kim said in a remark relayed in English by the (North's) Korean Central News Agency.SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap News)