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BBC MUNDO RADIO
North Korea warned yesterday that it was ready for an all-out war.
The news came as it sent its top diplomat to Russia amid efforts to defuse tensions over its deadly artillery attack on neighbouring South Korea.
The North’s official news agency said foreign minister Pak Ui Chun had left for Russia but declined to give details.
On Friday, Pak accused South Korea and the US of pursuing a policy of confrontation and said that North Korea needed its nuclear programme to fend them off.
Antagonising: South Korean military veterans demonstrate against North Korea in a the destroyed neighborhood on Yeonpyeong Island amid fears the country will be attacked again
The country’s National Peace Committee added yesterday: ‘The army and our people are ready for both an escalated war and an all-out war.’
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il met China’s top foreign policy official in Pyongyang last week after Beijing came under pressure to rein in its ally.
The artillery attack on November 23 killed four people.
It was the first such attack on civilians on South Korean soil since the end of the 1950-53 Korean war.
Analysts say the attack was was an attempt to force the resumption of international negotiations that could bring it aid, or could be seen as an attempt to boost the militaristic credentials of the country's leader-in-waiting, Kim Jong-un.
Won said the attack on Yeonpyeong island came as 'internal complaints are growing about the North's succession for a third generation (of Kim family rule), and its economic situation is worsening'.
Shells: Terrified South Korean civilians watch artillery fire hit Yeonpyeong island last Tuesday in attacks that killed four people
And despite international outrage, China steadfastly stood by North Korea, refusing to condemn its actions at the United Nations. Beijing said it would not favour any side but wanted to help resolve the dispute as a 'responsible great power'.
'Our general goal is for all sides to exercise calm and restraint and to make every effort to avoid such incidents recurring,' Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said as South Korea planned further military drills for next week.
'Since the exchange of fire between North and South Korea, China has made a series of efforts to prevent the situation from escalating and deteriorating. China decides its position based on the merits of each case and does not seek to protect any side,' Yang said.
An attempt by France and Britain to push the U.N. Security Council to condemn North Korea's nuclear programme and the attack on Yeonpyeong was on the verge of collapse because of China's unwillingness to apportion blame, envoys said.
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