SEOUL, July 9 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has vowed no compromise in its nuclear program and says he is braced for "all-out war" with the United States.
In his first reported remarks since North Korea test fired seven missiles Wednesday, Kim warned the United States against taking "revenge," South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Sunday.
Kim called the United States "our arch-enemy," the agency reported, monitoring a broadcast from North Korean state television.
Japan said it would not rule out a preemptive strike if North Korea makes a direct nuclear threat, Japan's NHK television reported.
As tension mounted ahead of a United Nations vote on whether to impose sanctions on Pyongyang, the United States and its allies have intensified a three-year covert operation to cut off all supplies to North Korea's nuclear program, the Times of London reported Sunday.
Few details of the operation are known, the Times said, but two Bush administration officials indicated last year the operation blocked North Korea from getting equipment used to make missile propellant.
