North Korea accuses South of declaring war

North Korea yesterday accused the South of declaring war by warning earlier this month that it would launch a pre-emptive strike if it thought its impoverished neighbour was preparing a nuclear attack. The angry retort from Pyongyang is the latest in what have become increasingly brittle relations between the two Koreas just as the international community tries to lure the North back to nuclear disarmament talks.

South Korea's Defence Minister Kim Tae-young said last week that Seoul would have no choice but to strike first if there were clear signs of a planned nuclear attack by the North.

"Our revolutionary armed forces will regard the scenario for 'pre-emptive strike' which the south Korean puppet authorities adopted as a 'state policy' as an open declaration of war," its state KCNA news agency quoted a spokesman for the armed forces general staff as saying.

North Korea has twice tested a nuclear device but there are doubts whether it already has the ability to create an atomic weapon. Military analysts say even if it did it probably does not have the technology to build a nuclear warhead small enough to sit on top of a missile.