Some analysts say North Korea has developed a handful of crude nuclear devices and is working toward building a warhead small enough to mount on a long-range missile capable of reaching the continental U.S. However, South Korean defense officials say the North has neither such a miniaturized warhead nor a functioning intercontinental ballistic missile.
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U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice clearly explained to Chinese officials that the THAAD missile defense system the U.S. plans to deploy in South Korea won’t hurt China’s security interests, and both sides achieved “a certain amount of clarity on that”, a senior official said.
“The denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula went out of the window because of the United States”, he said. “The United States will have to pay dearly a terrifying price”.
“Iran, a powerful and well developed country with a long history of thousands of years”, has decided it would not pursue nuclear weapons in order to have economic sanctions lifted, Kerry said. Seoul has said the THAAD system (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) is necessary to counter threats from North Korea, but will it only inflame regional tensions?
The US insists that the system is meant to protect South Korea from potential attacks from North Korea.
North Korea’s Foreign Minister said on Tuesday whether it conducted more nuclear tests depended on the United States, but Washington had destroyed the possibility of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
South Korea also closed the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Complex, which employed over 54,000 North Koreans.
“THAAD is most certainly not a simple technical issue, but an out-and-out strategic one”, said Wang Sunday, on the sidelines of a conference of foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vientiane, Laos.
But North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho defended Pyongyang’s need to possess nuclear weapons throughout the meeting.
A Seoungju resident takes part in a protest against the government’s decision on deploying a U.S. THAAD anti-missile defense unit in Seongju, in Seoul, South Korea, July 21, 2016.
A sign warning of the danger of snakes in Icheon, South Korea.
This meeting involved foreign ministers from 27 nations in Asean to discuss regional diplomatic and security issues, with North Korea’s denuclearization and the recent sensitive South China Sea dispute as larger overarching issues.
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South Korea also warned its citizens in China and Southeast Asia this week of the risk of “dangerous acts” by North Korea.
