SEOUL, April 9: North Korea’s defence chief has lashed out at hostile US policy towards Pyongyang and warned the communist country could also launch a pre-emptive attack on Washington. The warning from Kim Il-Chol came at a meeting on Saturday to mark the 13th anniversary of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il’s reign as chairman of the country’s powerful National Defence Commission, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

“A pre-emptive attack is not monopoly of the US and North Korea will never sit idle till it is exposed to a pre-emptive attack of the US,” the defence minister said.

“The United States is now talking about the six-party talks but in fact, it is zealously inciting hostility toward North Korea while floating all sorts of sheer fictions, utterly indifferent to the talks,” he said.

—AFP