[Photo] War rhetoric heats up on the Korean Peninsula

In response to remarks from US National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and Republican senator Lindsey Graham hinting at the possibility of a pre-emptive strike, the North Korean Central News Agency issued a report in English on Dec. 7 stating that, “These confrontational war-mongering remarks cannot be interpreted in any other way but as a warning to us to be prepared for a war on the Korean peninsula. We do not wish for a war but shall not hide from it.”

The same day, US senator and Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth was quoted in an interview on the Vox media website saying that, “Most Americans don’t realize how close we are to this war,” and speculating recent actions by the US military show that military planners have reached the conclusion, “the president is likely to make this decision [to order military action] and we need to be ready.” The photo shows North Korean citizens celebrating the successful test launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM in North Pyongan Province on Dec. 6. (Yonhap News)