A veteran of South Korean Headquarters of Intelligence Detachment (HID), in a North Korean military uniform, shouts a slogan with his former comrades during a rally against South Korean government giving support to pro-North Korean groups in South Korea near the City Hall in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. South Korea's President Park Geun-hye is strongly urging North Korea to refrain from conducting a nuclear test that could only worsen the tensions on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of a provocative long-range rocket launch in December, envoy Rhee In-je told The Associated Press and selected news outlets in Davos, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
White House: US can defend against nuclear strike
Published: 06:21:09 PM, Thu 07 March 2013 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says the U.S. is fully capable of defending itself after a North Korean ballistic missile attack.
White House spokesman Jay Carney was responding to the North's vow to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the U.S. That threat came in retaliation for tough new U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.
Carney says the sanctions further isolate North Korea and show its leaders what will happen if they defy the international community. He says the breadth and severity of the sanctions show the world takes seriously the threat of North Korea's nuclear program.
North Korea boasts of nuclear bombs but isn't thought to have the ability to produce a warhead that could be used on a missile capable of reaching the U.S.
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