SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If North Korea’s bellicose rhetoric threatening the United States and South Korea with nuclear war was aimed at dragging Washington to the negotiating table, it has likely failed.

Pyongyang may once again feel it needs to up the ante.

Two months of shrill threats following the North’s nuclear test in February appeared at times to drag the Korean peninsula close to war as its young leader celebrated a year in power with a fusillade of verbal aggression that has now died down.

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If North Korea’s bellicose rhetoric threatening the United States and South Korea with nuclear war was aimed at dragging Washington to the negotiating table, it has likely failed.

Pyongyang may once again feel it needs to up the ante.

Two months of shrill threats following the North’s nuclear test in February appeared at times to drag the Korean peninsula close to war as its young leader celebrated a year in power with a fusillade of verbal aggression that has now died down.

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea celebrated the 101st anniversary of its founder’s birth on Monday with no signs of tension easing on the peninsula after it rejected talks with South Korea aimed at normalizing ties and re-opening a joint industrial park.

The United States has also offered talks, but on the pre-condition that North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons ambitions. North Korea deems its nuclear arms a “treasured sword” and has vowed never to give them up.

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea prepared for the annual celebration of its founder’s birth on Monday, having rejected talks with South Korea aimed at reducing tensions and reopening a joint industrial park between the two countries.

The North has threatened for weeks to attack the United States, South Korea and Japan since new U.N. sanctions were imposed in response to its latest nuclear arms test in February.

SEOUL (Reuters) – Washington’s decision to fly B-52 and stealth bomber missions over Korea this week in a warning to Pyongyang risks pushing the North into staging an attack on the South just as its threats may have been on the cusp of dying down.

New leaders in Seoul, Beijing and most importantly, an untested 30-year-old in Pyongyang who has to prove he is capable of facing down a perceived threat from the United States, have raised the stakes in a month-long standoff that risks flaring into a conflict.

SEOUL/WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) – North Korea put its
missile units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases
in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two
nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a
rare show of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a
midnight meeting of top generals and “judged the time has come
to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the
prevailing situation”, the official KCNA news agency said.

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea put its rocket units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and “judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation”, official KCNA news agency said.

SEOUL/WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) – North Korea put its
rocket units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases
in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two
nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a
rare show of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a
midnight meeting of top generals and “judged the time has come
to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the
prevailing situation”, official KCNA news agency said.

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea put its rocket units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and “judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation”, official KCNA news agency said.

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea put its rocket units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and “judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation”, official KCNA news agency said.