N. Korean state media warns of ‘new world war’

By Alex Jensen
SEOUL (AA) – North Korea on Sunday accused the United States of “playing with fire” following the previous day’s arrival of two American B-1B Lancer bombers on the peninsula.
The powerful aircraft dispatched from Guam took part in joint drills involving South Korean and U.S. forces in the wake of the North’s first successful intercontinental ballistic missile test on Tuesday.
“A simple misjudgment or mistake may lead to the outbreak of a nuclear war and that, in turn, is sure to lead to a new world war,” cautioned a commentary featured in Pyongyang’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper.
“The U.S. saying it will regularly deploy strategic bombers to the Korean Peninsula is the same as a crazy act of playing fire on top of an ammunitions locker,” the piece added.
North Korea has been calling for the U.S. to withdraw its military presence in the South, while justifying its own nuclear provocations as a defensive strategy.
Pyongyang is barred from testing ballistic missiles by the United Nations Security Council, which is mulling further punitive measures against the reclusive state.
However, Seoul’s parliamentary leader insisted at a forum in the South Korean capital on Sunday that “there is as much need for dialogue as sanctions and pressure,” according to quotes relayed by Yonhap News Agency.
National Assembly Speaker Chung Sey-kyun’s position echoes that of his country’s President Moon Jae-in, who is determined to hold denuclearization talks with North Korea despite the authoritarian regime’s repeated missile tests since Moon took office in May.