North Korea warns top American commander in South Korea of ‘miserable destruction’ ahead of war drills



North Korea's Pak Rim Su sent a rare direct message to U.S. general

U.S. military preparing for routine joint drills with South Korea



Message warned of 'miserable destruction' if 'reckless' drills go ahead

Strong words come after North conducted nuclear test earlier this month



North Korea today warned the top American commander in South Korea of 'miserable destruction' if the U.S. military presses ahead with routine joint drills with South Korea set to begin next month.



Pak Rim Su, chief of North Korea's military delegation to the truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone, sent the warning this morning to Gen. James Thurman, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said, in a rare direct message to the U.S. commander.



The threat comes as the U.S. and other nations discuss how to punish North Korea for conducting an underground nuclear test on Feb. 12 in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning Pyongyang from nuclear and missile activity.

Warning: Officials at a ceremony following a recent successful nuclear test in North Korea, which today sent a warning to the top U.S. commander in South Korea over its plans for joint drills

North Korea has characterized the nuclear test, its third since 2006, as a defensive act against U.S. aggression. Pyongyang accuses Washington of 'hostility' for leading the charge to punish North Korea for a December rocket launch that the U.S. considers a covert missile test.

The U.S. and North Korea fought on opposite sides of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty, and left the Korean Peninsula divided by a heavily fortified border monitored by the U.S.-led U.N. Command.



Washington also stations 28,500 American troops in South Korea to protect its ally against North Korean aggression.

Drills: Soldiers participating in a routine drill in South Korea, which is due to press ahead with joint drills with the U.S. military

South Korea and the U.S. regularly conduct joint drills such as the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises slated to take place next month. North Korea calls the drills proof of U.S. hostility, and accuses Washington of practicing for an invasion.



'You had better bear in mind that those igniting a war are destined to meet a miserable destruction,' KCNA quoted Pak as saying in his message to Thurman. He called the drills 'reckless'.

