North Korea threatens nuclear strike on US

by Josh Delk - 07/25/17 5:51 PM ET

North Korea promised a nuclear strike on the United States if its regime under Kim Jong Un is threatened, according to the nation’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

KCNA said Tuesday it would deliver a strike on “the heart of the US” if it continues its attempts to denuclearize the rogue nation, CNN reported Tuesday.

{mosads}The threat came after CIA director Mike Pompeo said last week that the administration was looking to disarm the North Korean regime.

“As for the regime, I am hopeful we will find a way to separate that regime from this system,” Pompeo said. “The North Korean people, I’m sure are lovely people and would love to see him go.”

According to KCNA, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said, “The DPRK legally stipulates that if the supreme dignity of the DPRK is threatened, it must pre-emptively annihilate those countries and entities that are directly or indirectly involved in it, by mobilizing all kinds of strike means including the nuclear ones.”

“Should the U.S. dare to show even the slightest sign of attempt to remove our supreme leadership, we will strike a merciless blow at the heart of the U.S. with our powerful nuclear hammer, honed and hardened over time,” the spokesman said.

The threats from North Korea come after the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency reported that the regime could be able to launch a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by 2018, ahead of the agency’s original projected timeline.

North Korea successfully tested an ICBM — which experts said had the range to reach Alaska but not the U.S. mainland — on July 4.

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