North Korea Threatens an End to Cease Fire

People watch a TV news in Osaka, western Japan, showing a North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with letters saying " North Korea, Third nuclear test" Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. Defying U.N. warnings, North Korea on Tuesday conducted an underground nuclear test in the remote, snowy northeast, taking a crucial step toward its goal of building a bomb small enough to be fitted on a missile capable of striking the United States.

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By Rachel Begle

Story Created: Mar 5, 2013 at 7:38 AM CDT

Story Updated: Mar 5, 2013 at 7:38 AM CDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea vowed Tuesday to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War, citing a U.S.-led push for punishing U.N. sanctions over its recent nuclear test and ongoing U.S.-South Korean joint military drills.

North Korea's Korean People's Army Supreme Command warned of stronger additional countermeasures in a statement that came amid reports that Washington and North Korean ally Beijing have approved a draft of punishing sanctions for a U.N. Security Council resolution responding to North Korea's Feb. 12 nuclear test. The draft is expected to be circulated at the U.N. this week.

The United States and others worry that North Korea's third nuclear test pushes it a step closer toward its goal of having nuclear-armed missiles that can reach America, and condemn its rocket launches and nuclear tests as a dangerous threat to regional security.

North Korea says its nuclear program is a response to U.S. hostility that dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war.

North Korea warned it will cancel the Korean War cease-fire agreement on March 11, citing U.S.-South Korean military drills that began March 1.

North Korea said Washington and others are going beyond mere economic sanctions and expanding into blunt aggression and military acts. North Korea also warned that it will block a communications line between it and the United States at the border village separating the two Koreas.