(North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the newly built National Space Development General Satellite Control and Command Centre.Reuters)
More defiant North Korean nuclear weapons tests will be dependent on US moves in the Korean peninsula, the Hermit Kingdom announced on Tuesday.
North
Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said Washington had ruined the
possibility of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, South Korea's Yonhap
News Agency reports.
Earlier
this month, the Pentagon upped the ante by agreeing to equip South
Korea with a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery — one of the most advanced missile defense systems in the world.
Pressure to deploy THAAD was spurred after Pyongyang tested its fourth nuclear bomb on January 6 and then launched a long-range rocket on February 7.
A
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched
during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo
provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. U.S.
Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency/Handout via Reuters/File
Photo
Speaking
to reporters at a meeting in Laos, Ri claimed that Pyongyang was a
"responsible nuclear state and would not use its atomic arms unless
threatened," Reuters reports.
Last week the Hermit Kingdom fired three ballistic missiles, equipped with a range (between 300 and 360 miles) capable of reaching all of South Korea.
And
the latest show of force took form in a ballistic missile test
simulating a strike on South Korean ports and airfields, which are
heavily operated by US military forces. Currently the US maintains
approximately 28,500 troops in South Korea.
Earlier this month, South Korea's Defense Ministry said THAAD will be located in Seongju,
in the southeastern part of the country. In conjunction with the US,
Seoul plans to have the unique air-defense system operational by the end
of 2017.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/north-korea-us-kiss-nuke-140323422.html
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