North Korea warns of pre-emptive strike to counter Seoul,US provocation

North Korea warned Monday that it will carry out pre-emptive strikes to counter military provocations by South Korea and the United States. In a statement released by spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), Pyongyang strongly denounced the agreement reached at the latest joint South Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting that calls for so-called customized deterrence against North Korea's nuclear weapons. Customized deterrence calls on South Korea and the United States to attack the North and take out the communist country's nuclear arsenal if there are clear signs it may be used against their allies. "The military plot aims to derail the ongoing peace process and dialogue on the Korean Peninsula and can fuel tensions that can lead to a nuclear conflict," the North Korean body in charge of inter-Korean relations said in a report carried by the state-run Korean Cent It added that the North is prepared to respond to all provocations by its enemies in Seoul and Washington and made clear if its warnings are ignored, the country will respond firmly and without hesitation. "If our enemies try to threaten us in the slightest, the country will launch ruthless pre-emptive strikes of annihilation," the CPRK said. The organization then made clear that talking about denuclearization when the United States is bent on plotting to invade the North shows the level of hypocrisy on the part of Washington. The committee then lashed out at South Korean President Park Geun-hye, saying her calls on the North to give up its nuclear program are ludicrous.