Anchor: North Korea has threatened to launch a preemptive nuclear attack in protest of combined South Korea-U.S. military training that simulates advancing into the North’s inland areas. The South Korean government dismissed the latest threat which was issued in the form of a special statement from the government, political parties and organizations. 
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.
 
Report:
[Sound bite: Korean Central Television (Mar. 16 / Korean)]
“They must not forget, at any time, that our plans of crushing preemptive attacks, that would burn down enemy strongholds into ashes, are not empty promises.”
 
North Korea is threatening to launch preemptive nuclear attacks in the event of even the slightest sign of actual military action from South Korean and U.S. forces.
 
The North on Wednesday strongly criticized Seoul and Washington for their massive joint exercises, which entered the second phase focused on attacking key facilities in a mock-up North Korean city.

In the special statement from the government, political parties and organizations, the North specifically stressed that the allied forces' "decapitation operation" to remove its young leader Kim Jong-un will not, by any means, be tolerated.
 
The North then again discussed preemptive nuclear strikes, reiterating that it is prepared to use miniaturized, precise and diversified warheads.

The last time the North issued a joint statement from the three entities was in 2013 when the communist state conducted its third nuclear test.

Alongside the statement, the North’s state-run media aired a poem slandering South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
 
[Sound bite: Korean Central Television (Mar. 16 / Korean)]
“Pummeling the forces of enemy beasts with the merciless punishment, punishment, of the great country of Mount Baekdu.”
 
A unification research institute under the United Front Department of the North's ruling Workers’ Party of Korea described Park as an atrocious fanatic of division among fellow countrymen. The institute strongly denounced the halt of operations at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and the combined South Korea-U.S. military drills.
 
In Seoul, a Unification Ministry official said Thursday such immoral remarks do not deserve a response and that it would be worthless to comment.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.