North Korea vowed Thursday to enlarge its atomic arsenal and warned of a “fire shower of nuclear retaliation” in the event of a US attack, as the regime marked the 1950 outbreak of the Korean War. The anniversary came as the US Navy followed a North Korean ship suspected of carrying weapons in violation of a UN resolution punishing Pyongyang's May 25 nuclear test, and as anticipation mounted that the North might testfire short- or mid-range missiles in the coming days. State-run newspapers in Pyongyang ran lengthy editorials accusing the US of invading the country in 1950 and of looking for an opportunity to attack again. In a separate commentary, the paper blasted a recent US pledge to defend South Korea with its nuclear weapons, saying that amounted to “asking for the calamitous situation of having a fire shower of nuclear retaliation all over South Korea.” The new UN resolution seeks to clamp down on North Korea's trading of banned arms and weapons-related material by requiring UN member states to request inspections of ships carrying suspicious cargo. North Korea has said it would consider any interception of its ships a declaration of war.
