North Korea vowed Tuesday to strike the U.S. with a ¡°powerful nuclear hammer¡± after CIA chief Mike Pompeo hinted last week that Washington was open to the possibility of regime change.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), quoting a Foreign Ministry spokesman, issued a scathing rebuke of Pompeo¡¯s remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado last Thursday that appeared to advocate ousting the North¡¯s supreme leader, Kim Jong Un.
¡°Although his reckless remarks are just balderdash of a guy who has become so angrily desperate due to the ever-increasing nuclear strike capability of the DPRK, they have gone over the line, and it has now become clear that the ultimate aim of the Trump administration¡¯s hostile policy towards the DPRK is ... ¡®regime change,¡¯ ¡± the spokesman said.
Pompeo had told the forum that both the intelligence community and the Pentagon have been tasked with developing ¡°a range of options that can do what ultimately needs to be achieved,¡± adding that he was ¡°hopeful¡± the U.S. could ¡°find a way to separate that regime from¡± their nuclear weapons.
Asked if he was suggesting regime change, Pompeo appeared to advocate such a move by saying he believed the U.S. ¡°can tackle every piece¡± of the North Korean threat.
North Korea has repeatedly lambasted the U.S. in state media over alleged plans to topple Kim, including a detailed plot that it announced in May to assassinate Kim with ¡°biochemical bomb¡± at a military parade.
It called that alleged plot a ¡°heinous crime¡± and said it would ¡°ferret out and mercilessly destroy the terrorists¡± who had hatched the plan.
Tuesday¡¯s statement was equally indignant, with the North vowing to defend Kim and take countermeasures in the event of a U.S. ¡°decapitation¡± ¡ª or assassination ¡ª strike on the supreme leadership.
¡°Our army and people have never thought about their destiny and future separated from their supreme leadership,¡± the KCNA statement said.
¡°The first and foremost mission of our revolutionary armed forces with the nuclear force as their backbone is to defend the leader at the cost of their lives.
¡°Should the U.S. dare to show even the slightest sign of attempt to remove our supreme leadership,¡± it added, ¡°we will strike a merciless blow at the heart of the U.S. with our powerful nuclear hammer, honed and hardened over time.¡±
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