Victory certain says North Korea

SEOUL - North Korean state radio said yesterday that victory is certain for the communist state in any nuclear war with the United States thanks to Pyongyang's "army-first" political system.

"Victory in a nuclear conflict will be ours and the red flag of army-first politics will flutter ever more vigorously," said the broadcast, reported by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

"Our victory is certain and the future ever more radiant," it said, touting the dominance of the army in the world's most heavily militarised society.

The million-strong Korean People's Army is the world's fifth-largest.

The crisis over North Korea's nuclear programme has been simmering since October, when Washington said Pyongyang had admitted to pursuing a programme to enrich uranium in violation of major international treaty commitments.

Since then, North Korea has expelled United Nations nuclear inspectors and withdrawn from the treaty which aims to curb the spread of nuclear weapons.

It also said it was ready to restart a mothballed reactor capable of producing plutonium for bombs.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: North Korea