N Korea: We're ready for war
09/07/2006 08:17 - (SA)



Seoul - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has vowed not to make "even a tiny concession" to the United States and said Pyongyang was braced for "all-out war" after its missile tests, state television said on Sunday.

"The general has declared that not even a tiny concession be made to the imperialist US invaders, our arch enemy," said a broadcast on North Korean state television, as monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Kim warned that if the United States took "revenge," it would mean "all-out war."

"It is not empty talk for the DPRK (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) to respond with revenge to any revenge by the enemy and with all-out war to an all-out war," the television said.

The bellicose remarks were the first attributed to Kim since the communist regime on Wednesday fired seven missiles including a new long-range Taepodong-2.

Kim mocked US assertions that his regime was on the verge of collapse.

"As the imperialists fussed loudly over our republic's collapse and attempting to plot against us, the General dealt them a blow by firmly declaring, 'Do not expect any change from me'."

"It is out of the General's conviction, desire and courage that we should respond to the enemy's knife with a sword and the enemy's gun with a cannon," the television said.

"With such conviction and will, the General is achieving a victory and protecting socialism in the fierce confrontation with the US imperialists."

State television did not say when Kim was speaking. The North Korean strongman rarely speaks in public with his own voice.

North Korea has repeatedly refused US demands to give up its drive for nuclear weapons and declared last year that it had an atomic arsenal to defend itself.

It has boycotted six-nation talks on ending its nuclear program since November to protest US financial sanctions.

The state television remarks come as US envoy Christopher Hill travels the region in hopes of building pressure on Pyongyang after its missile tests.

The United States and Japan are pushing for a United Nations resolution that would slap new sanctions on Pyongyang, but China and Russia, which both wield veto power, have both come out against it.