North Korea said it would
"create a planet without the United States," as the United Nations
Security Council prepared to pass a tough resolution against Pyongyang this
week and the United States and South Korea are preparing a joint military
exercise.
Pyongyang made the statement
Thursday in state-controlled newspaper Rodong Sinmun. In its editorial, North
Korea also warned that South Korea and the United States could be turned into a
"sea of fire," Yonhap
reported.
North Korea is strongly
opposed to the military exercises that take place annually on the peninsula.
Key Resolve, expected to be one of the biggest military drills to be held in
March, is being carried out with the goal of "decapitating" the Kim Jong Un
regime, according to Pyongyang.
"How dare they try to
hide the dazzling sun [Workers' Party Secretary Kim Jong Un], our destiny,
humanity's destiny," Pyongyang said in statement, according to South
Korean news service News 1.
"Let us make 10
million missiles that would turn South Korea's presidential Blue House and the
United States into powder."
But the threats could be
coming from a sense that North Korea's security is being threatened. The joint
drills are equivalent to a "declaration of war," Pyongyang said, and
repercussions could follow. U.S. military bases in the Asia-Pacific region
would be turned into "ashes," North Korea stated in its warning.
The Rodong also ran photos
of the 1950-53 Korean War and the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, captured by the North
in 1968.
North Korea warned its adversaries
against attack, saying "millions of youth can turn themselves into human
bombs" if it meant protecting Kim Jong Un.
Pyongyang also denounced
South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who marks her third year in office.