The military of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday warned the United States and South Korea against any attempt to stage a "special operation" to hit its leadership and military installations, including the nuclear arms base.
The General Staff of the Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency that it is ready to "mercilessly smash the enemy's moves with its own style of special operation and preemptive attack, now that the sinister aim of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean War maniacs' 'special operation' to hurt the dignity of the DPRK's supreme leadership has become clear, and they disclosed even the dangerous attempt at 'preemptive attack.'"
It accused the United States and South Korea of being "busy staging madcap joint military drills for aggression involving more than 300,000 troops, U.S. nuclear carrier Carl Vinson and B-1B and other nuclear strategic assets."
"The situation has reached an extreme phase which should not be overlooked," the General Staff said in the statement.
The statement urged Washington and Seoul to think twice about the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by their outrageous military actions.
On March 13, combined forces of South Korea and the United States kicked off the annual command post exercise code-named Key Resolve, following the launch on March 1 of the joint field training drill with the code-name of Foal Eagle. The DPRK has denounced the joint military exercises as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion.
The U.S.-South Korea commands will exercise a so-called Operation Plan 5015 during the Key Resolve drill, according to local media reports. The operation plan includes preemptive strikes against the DPRK's nuclear and missile facilities when signs of attack are detected.