North Korea on Sunday issued a New Year's message in which it vowed to boost its military and accused Washington of seeking to start a new war on the Korean Peninsula, AP reported "Dark clouds of war are hovering over the Korean nation, (which) is ardently yearning for reunification. It is the real intention of the U.S. not to hesitate to plunge the Korean nation to nuclear catastrophe," said an editorial carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency and three state-run newspapers. North Korea often issues policy directives in New Year's Day editorials. "The entire nation should firmly defend peace and security on the Korean Peninsula by turning out in the struggle to resolutely foil the U.S. attempt to launch another war," the editorial said. "We must remove the root cause of war completely from this land by launching a nationwide campaign for driving out the U.S. troops," it added. It also called for higher agricultural production in the impoverished country, but added: "Whatever the situation is, the principled stand of our party and state to give top priority to the military remains unchanged." --more 14 47 Local Time 11 47 GMT
