WORLD BRIEFING / NORTH KOREA

North Korea condemned a recent U.S. pledge to provide nuclear defense of South Korea, saying the promise justifies its decision to hold on to atomic weapons.

The salvo in Pyongyang’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper was the latest North Korean reaction to last week’s meeting between President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. The allies issued a joint statement committing the U.S. to defend South Korea with nuclear weapons.

It also came as an American destroyer trailed a North Korean vessel suspected of shipping weapons in violation of a United Nations resolution punishing Pyongyang for its May 25 nuclear test, and as anticipation mounted that North Korea might test-fire short- or mid-range missiles.

North Korea has long claimed that the U.S. is plotting to invade, and has used the claim to justify its development of nuclear weapons. On Wednesday, Pyongyang accused Washington of seeking to “provoke a second Korean War,” and said it would “wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all.