North Korean Defense Minister Says US Pushes Korean Peninsula Into Nuclear War Threshold

US submarine USS Kentucky. (SSBN-737). (Wikimedia Commons/National Archives at College Park)

JAKARTA - The United States move, which since the beginning of this year has been deploying nuclear facilities to South Korea since the beginning of the year, North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun-nam has pushed the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war, in a speech read at Moscow's 11th International Security Conference.

"The United States, which has implemented a hostile policy towards Korea as a state policy, has openly violated North Korea's independent development and security interests, pushing the situation in Northeastern Asia to the brink of nuclear war," he said.

"America... since the beginning of this year has deployed enormous strategic nuclear facilities to South Korea, including nuclear-powered submarines, strategic bombers and nuclear aircraft carrier fighting groups, as well as carrying out several of the largest joint military exercises that mimic total war with us," said Minister Kang.

"These exercises have never happened before in terms of scale, intensity and duration," he continued.

"Now, the question is not whether the nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula broke out or not, the question is who, when, and how to release it," he stressed.

As previously reported, two US nuclear-powered submarines docked at the South Korean port last month. USS Annapolis (SSN-760), a ship during nuclear power specializing in anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare, docked on July 24. A week earlier, a submarine with the USS Kentucky nuclear missile (SSBN-737) docked in the Ginseng Country, the ship's first visit during the same time since 1981.

Kim Yo-jong, the younger brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned Washington to stop the stupid act of provoking North Korea.

"The US must stop being stupid in provoking the DPRK even by endangering its security," Kim said in a statement broadcast by KCNA.

He criticized the shipment of ballistic missile armed submarines with nuclear warheads to South Korea, saying such action would only push Pyongyang away from the negotiating table.