N. Korea Warns U.S. on Preemptive Strike

North Korea suggested Tuesday that it had the ability to launch a preemptive attack on the United States.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the North had built atomic weapons to counter the U.S. nuclear threat.

“Preemptive strike is not the monopoly of the United States,” the unnamed spokesman said in a report in the official Korean Central News Agency.

The United States urged North Korea to return to international nuclear negotiations instead of making inflammatory statements.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States had no plans to invade or attack North Korea.

Last week, the communist country warned that it had the right to launch a preemptive strike, saying it would strengthen its war footing before South Korea-U.S. military exercises scheduled for this weekend.

Pyongyang’s spokesman said it would be a wise step for the United States to cooperate on nuclear issues with North Korea in the same way it did with India.

President Bush this month signed an accord in India that would open some of that nation’s atomic reactors to international inspections in exchange for U.S. nuclear know-how and atomic fuel.

The accord was reached even though New Delhi has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. North Korea has withdrawn from the treaty and denounced the United States for giving India preferential treatment.

It is rare for North Korea to mention its nuclear capabilities in such an explicit manner. The communist state usually refers to its “nuclear deterrent force.”

North Korea first declared last year that it had nuclear weapons, although the claim could not be independently verified. Experts believe the North has extracted enough plutonium from its main nuclear reactor to produce at least half a dozen weapons.

Six-nation talks have been stalled since November over a dispute surrounding financial restrictions the United States imposed on North Korea for its alleged currency counterfeiting and money laundering. Those talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

North Korea says it will not return to the negotiating table unless the restrictions are lifted. But Washington demands that the North come to the talks without preconditions.