It seems more likely that as tensions between Russia and the United States continue to escalate, it is the former that will launch a preemptive attack, possibly sparking a full-scale nuclear showdown. But North Korea begs to disagree, boasting that it has the capabilities to hit the mainland America.
In new report, NBC News said that North Korea is readying up for more nuclear tests following the fifth detonation attributed to the country this 2016. Pyongyang's defiance also translates to it readiness to wage nuclear confrontation against the United States, the report added.
The Asian country sees the U.S. as a threat to its existence that the option of preemptive strikes aimed on American targets is on the table. "A preemptive nuclear strike is not something the U.S. has a monopoly on ... If we see that the U.S. would do it to us, we would do it first. ... We have the technology," NBC reported a senior North Korean as saying.
The official was identified as Foreign Ministry's Institute for American Studies director Lee Yong Pil.
A nuclear strike on U.S. targets even in the absence of clear provocations is justified, Lee said, insisting that North Korea is a constant target for nuclear annihilation by Washington.
"The U.S. has nuclear weapons off our coast, targeting our country, our capital and our Dear Leader, Kim Jong Un ... We will not step back as long as there's a nuclear threat to us from the United States," Lee told NBC.
And the threat voiced out by Lee appears credible enough. As mentioned, this 2016 alone North Korea was observed to have already executed its fifth nuclear detonation and there's no stopping the country from going ahead with further tests. As Lee has indicated, his nation has existing nuclear policy chiefly for self-preservation.
"We have to have nuclear weapons to protect our country, and it's our policy to go nuclear," the official declared.
While U.S. officials and scientists have long maintained that the North Korean military remains incapable of attacking the continental United States, Pyongyang insisted that its weapons delivery system is further enhanced by its advanced missile program. Rockets fired from North Korea will not only reach the U.S. mainland but also the moon or even other planets, Pyongyang officials said in highlighting Nokor's increasing capability of striking at the heart of America.
More importantly, the officials stressed that any preemptive strikes from North Korea will surely not benefit from any kind of help coming from its known allies - the Russians and the Iranians.