The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) military said on Thursday that the army of the DPRK was fully prepared to launch "a sacred war" based on the nuclear deterrent at any time.

According to the official news agency KCNA, Korean People's Army (KPA) Vice Marshal Kim Yong Chun delivered a report at a national meeting held to mark the 19th anniversary of top leader Kim Jong Il's gaining of the supreme commandership of the KPA at the April 25 House of Culture on Thursday that South Korea's military provocation through holding shelling exercises again indicated its intention of starting "another Korean War," leading the Korean Peninsula to a situation that "a war may break out at any moment."

"If the enemies intrude into the sky, land and seas of the DPRK even by 0.001 mm, the KPA will as ever continue dealing more devastating physical blows at them without hesitation. The army and people of the DPRK never make an empty talk," he said.

The army of the DPRK is getting fully prepared to launch a sacred war of justice "based on the nuclear deterrent" at any time necessary to cope with the enemies' actions deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war, he stressed.

At the end, he warned that in case the U.S. and its followers finally ignite an all-out war, the army of the DPRK will "not only wipe out the aggressors but also blow up their bases and thus eradicate the root cause of war and surely accomplish the historic cause of national reunification.

Situation on the peninsula is getting tense after the exchange of artillery fire on November 23 between South Korea and the DPRK, which killed four people. The South Korean military held a live fire artillery drill in waters southwest of Yonphyong Island near the disputed water maritime border again on December 20.

The South Korean Department of Defense declared on December 22 that the three-day drills would be held in waters off the east coast of the Korean peninsula from December 22 and large-scale joint drills involving the South Korean Army and the Air Force from December 23.

Kim Yong Chun is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, vice-chairman of the National Defense Commission of the DPRK and minister of the People's Armed Forces.

(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2010)