The head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, said North Korea posed a threat to Hawaii and other parts of the United States and it would “soon” be a threat to the entire United States.
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The North Korean regime has long demanded a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War and open the way for diplomatic relations, a call that Washington has repeatedly rejected.
Shortly after the North’s missile launch on February 7, South Korea and the U.S. jointly announced they would begin official discussions on the possible placement of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in South Korea. While the worldwide community has imposed tougher sanctions on North Korea after each nuclear test, this has only intensified the North Korean regime’s sense of crisis and led to more nuclear tests.
The US and South Korean militaries are due to begin their annual war games known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, which will be the largest ever, involving hundreds of thousands of troops and sophisticated air, ground and naval weaponry.
The two allies announced the deployment of the anti-ballistic missile defence system after North Korea launched a satellite-bearing long-range rocket earlier this month.
South Korea emphasized the importance of national security when responding Wednesday to a threat by China’s ambassador that bilateral ties could be ruined “in an instant” if the South decides to deploy a missile defense system from the United States.
He also warned that THAAD deployment would “create a vicious cycle of Cold War-style confrontations and an arms race”, and urged South Korea to take that into account when deciding if THAAD truly makes the country safer.
The United Nations choir aims to send peace through song between the northern and southern parts of the Korean peninsula as it will visit South Korea for the first time since its formation in 1947.
On January 6, North Korea said it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, a move that outraged Washington and prompted Congress to hit back with more sanctions against the country.
North Korea, even as it builds a nuclear arsenal, has in recent decades been outgunned diplomatically, economically and militarily by the richer South; it has therefore relied more on words as a weapon.
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Regarding North Korea’s nuclear test and missile launch, Chu said China is “firmly opposed” both. “But if you know it better, you know how risky it is”, Lt. Col. Nam Dong Ho of the North Korean People’s Army said in Panmunjom, the truce village where the armistice was signed.
