North Korea said on Thursday it has scrapped all agreements with the South on exchanges and economic co-operation projects and that it would “liquidate” the assets of South Korean firms and government agencies left in its territory.
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The South Korean Defense Ministry says the North’s missiles were fired from North Hwanghae province, flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles) and fell into the water off the country’s east coast.
North Korea has vowed to develop a nuclear arsenal in an effort to protect itself from the U.S. military, which occasionally deploys nuclear-powered warships and aircraft capable of carrying atomic weapons in the region.
Around 17,000 United States military personnel are taking part alongside some 300,000 South Korean troops in what South Korea’s defense ministry has called the “largest-ever” joint military exercises.
The UN Security Council responded with tough, new sanctions, which Pyongyang condemned as a “gangster-like” provocation orchestrated by the United States. “We will continuously take the planned special measures for hastening the miserable end of the Park Geun-hye group of traitors by dealing fatal political, military and economic blows to it”, a North Korean government spokesman said.
On Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un additionally maintained nuclear warheads small enough to fit on ballistic missiles had been developed by scientists.
Pyongyang’s claims that it has miniaturized nuclear warheads comes after the North reported a successful test of what it said was a hydrogen bomb in February.
North Korea on Sunday warned it would make a “pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strike” in response to the joint exercises.
The World Health Organization says 20 in every 100,000 North Koreans died of tuberculosis in 2014, more than five times the rate of South Korea.
The committee argued that the South unilaterally suspended tours to Mount Geumgang and the operation of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea.
While overseeing a ballistic missile launch on Thursday, March 10 Kim stressed the importance of conducting “more nuclear explosion tests to estimate the destructive power of the newly produced nuclear warheads ” , the North’s official KCNA news agency said”.
State Department spokesman John Kirby declined to comment on Kim’s claim to have miniaturised nuclear warheads and accused him of “provocative rhetoric”.
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