COSTELLO: North Korea is threatening a, quote, "preemptive and offensive nuclear strike," all in response to the United States and South Korea staging joint military exercises.</s>COSTELLO (voice-over): Tensions are already running high on the Korean Peninsula due to the recent U.N. sanctions, the toughest sanctions in years, but the way.</s>COSTELLO (on camera): Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon with more. Good morning.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Those sanctions, of course, aimed at crippling North Korea's ability to develop weapons, but right now the -- you're right. I mean, the rhetoric is extremely high out of Pyongyang. The U.S. feels it is due to these regular exercises, two of them actually underway right now between the U.S. and South Korea. They won't wind up until the end of April. So, we're potentially in for several weeks of very hot rhetoric out of the North. The U.S. view, of course, the exercises are aimed at demonstrating the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea. So, what's the assessment? What is Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, really up to with all of this talk? Clearly the U.S. view is that they hope it's just talk., but there's a lot of concern. The North Koreans recently conducted an underground nuclear test. They launched a satellite that gave them the ability to test the equivalent of a long range missile. They're sensitive about the sanctions right now. So, you have all three of these things coming together in the North Korean regime. From the U.S. point of view, they're watching very carefully. Right now they don't see any military moves by the north, just talk. Carol?</s>COSTELLO: All right. Barbara Starr reporting live this morning. Thank you. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Peyton Manning hanging up his helmet for good.
North Korea Threatens a Preemptive and Offensive Nuclear Strike