North Korea warned the United States that it could launch a preemptive attack.
“In the case of our super-mighty preemptive strike being launched, it will completely and immediately wipe out not only U.S. imperialists’ invasion forces in South Korea and its surrounding areas but the U.S. mainland and reduce them to ashes,” said the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea’s Workers’ Party.
The threat comes as Vice President Mike Pence said this week that the “era of strategic patience” in the region is over and that the U.S. military’s “sword stands ready.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also said Wednesday that the U.S. is reviewing whether to restore the rogue nation’s status as a state sponsor of terror.
The Trump administration is “reviewing all the status of North Korea, both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as the other ways in which we can bring pressure on the regime in Pyongyang to re-engage with us,” he said at a press conference.
“But we re-engage with us on a different footing than past talks have been held,” he added. “We are evaluating all of those options.”
