North Korea threatens nuclear war ahead of Trump meeting with U.N. Security Council

North Korea declared in a series of statements Saturday that “U.S. muscle-flexing can never browbeat DPRK,” threatening “a nuclear war” against the U.S. if it is attacked.

“The DPRK will react to a total war with an all-out war, a nuclear war with nuclear strikes of its own and surely win a victory in the death-defying struggle against the U.S. imperialists,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman wrote in one of three missives, echoing the message delivered by a top official at a massive military parade in Pyongyang on April 15.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman accused Trump administration officials of “spouting a load of rubbish” and “seeking to bring nuclear aircraft carrier strike groups one after another to the waters off the Korean Peninsula,” an apparent reference to the impending arrival of the USS Carl Vinson carrier group to the region.

The recent escalation in tension will be front in center in Washington on Monday. Diplomatic sources tell CBS News that U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley will escort Security Council members to Washington for a series of meetings with members of Congress before heading to the White House for a photo-op and lunch with President Trump. The high-profile visit will give U.N. diplomats an unusually high level of access to the president.

North Korea’s most recent missile test failed on the anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country’s late founder and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. The missile exploded immediately after liftoff, U.S. officials said.

However, the regime has not dialed back its trademark brand of fiery diplomatic rhetoric in the wake of the failure.

 

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