N. Korea: Japan will be first country under radioactive clouds in case of war

North Korea has warned Tokyo that if conflict breaks out in the region, Japan will be the first country to be smothered in nuclear clouds.

“In case of a nuclear war on the peninsula, Japan that houses logistic bases, launching bases and sortie bases of the US forces will be put under radioactive clouds before any country,” said the North’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Wednesday.

It noted that if Japan is truly “concerned about its interests” it has to endeavor towards peacefully settling tensions.

The paper further went on to remind Japan about its previous experience with nuclear bombs, while stressing that North Korean missiles would put the country “under radioactive clouds before any country.”

“As the first country in the world that suffered A-bomb disaster, Japan knows better than others how terrible the nuclear disaster is,” it added.

It also noted that Japan is using regional tensions as a pretext to amend its constitution to allow overseas military action.

“Another aim is to stimulate its reeling economy with the orders of new war supplies from the US after a war breaks out on the Korean peninsula, and thus gain a windfall, just as it did during the past Korean war,” added the paper.

Plans to alter the country’s constitution were recently announced by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and are expected to be implemented in 2020.

“The Japanese authorities should behave with discretion, clearly understanding that it is Japan that will be affected most once a war breaks out on the Peninsula,” noted the paper.

Tensions have been on the rise on the Korean Peninsula over the past weeks.

Unsettled by North Korean missile and military nuclear programs, the United States has adopted a war-like posture, sending a strike group and conducting joint military drills with North Korea’s regional adversaries Japan and South Korea.

Pyongyang defends its missile and nuclear programs as a means of protecting the country from US hostility.

In addition to a naval strike group, which includes the large USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, Washington deployed two supersonic bombers over the peninsula during a joint exercise with South Korea’s air force on Monday. The USS Michigan nuclear submarine joined the strike group earlier this week.