North Korea is believed to have placed a new, powerful mid-range missile on standby for an impending launch, a news report said Tuesday.
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The North last test-launched a submarine-launched ballistic missile on December 25, but that test was seen as failure, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
“We don’t take seriously a promise to simply halt until the next time they decide to do a test these kinds of activities”, Obama said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to a White House transcript.
It also said the North’s test contributes to its development of delivery systems for nuclear weapons and heightens tensions in the region, urging the North to refrain from additional provocations and fulfill its obligations stipulated by the resolutions.
He said that the United States will not back down from strengthening its military alliances and defences against North Korea until the country “shows seriousness” towards eliminating nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula.
South Korea’s military is looking for any signs of an imminent nuclear test from the North saying that the regime is capable of conducting one at the push of a button.
U.S. Strategic Command, headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, said its “systems detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean submarine missile launch from the Sea of Japan”.
He said progress was only possible if North Korea showed a willingness to mothball its nuclear weapons programme.
North Korea could have a submarine-launched ballistic missile system ready by 2020 using solid fuel which is more reliable than liquid, a US institute said Monday. In January, North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test with a hydrogen bomb.
“If we continue on this path of confrontation, this will lead to very catastrophic results, not only for the two countries but for the whole entire world”, Ri added. “They’re going to have to do better than that”.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced Sunday that it has successfully fired a submarine launched ballistic missile.
More than demonstrating North Korean might, the tests can also help boost Kim’s position in the run-up to a May ruling party congress, according to analysts.
“As we look at North Korea, clearly we are using as a country all of our leverage of power associated with it”.
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News that the country might be planning another nuclear test has angered China, which was forced to deny that it was massing troops on the border with North Korea.
