The top American and South Korean envoys on North Korea expressed their resolve during a news conference in Seoul, the South’s capital, on Tuesday, speaking shortly after two nuclear-capable supersonic bombers from the U.S. Air Force base in Guam streaked over the South in a show of force.
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Pyongyang has pledged to develop a nuclear arsenal in what it says is a bid to protect itself from the U.S. military. The nuclear capable aircraft are a clear signal to North Korea after it carried out a nuclear test last week.
The divided peninsula remains technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice instead of a peace treaty.
The United States wants China to do more, with U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter last week singling out the role he said China should play in curbing its neighbour.
A U.S. intelligence official said North Korea is the only country in the world that threatens others with a nuclear attack, and that Pyongyang shows no signs of backing off its nuclear programme.
Early on September 9, North Korea conducted its second – and likely – strongest nuclear test this year (the fifth ever), coming at the heels of the conclusion of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China.
Professor Hecker, formerly director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said that the country’s increased ability to produce nuclear weapons upped the chance that warheads would be sold to other governments or possibly terrorists.
THAAD is a sophisticated U.S. missile defence system.
“Any sanction, provocation and pressure can not ruin our status as a nuclear state and evil political and military provocations will only result in a flood of reckless nuclear attacks that will bring a final destruction”, KCNA said.
U.S. Pacific Commander Adm. Harry Harris referred to these flights as demonstrating “solidarity between South Korea, the United States, and Japan” in their defense against North Korea, Business Insider reported. He also said the North appears to have nuclear warheads that can be mounted on some short-range and possibly medium-range missiles. He said that more troubling was the recent test successes may give Pyongyang a false sense of confidence.
With two nuclear tests and more than 20 missile launches so far in 2016, the North’s leader Kim Jong-Un has hit a new low, said Sung Kim, the US State Department’s special representative for North Korea policy.
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Brooks, called the North’s nuclear test “a risky escalation” and “an unacceptable threat”.
