Reckless US is pushing us closer to nuclear war - North Korea:
(CNN)North
Korea has lashed out at the US after it conducted joint bomber drills
with the South Korean air force, accusing it of reckless provocation.
Pyongyang
described the exercise, which involved two B1-B bombers, as as a
"nuclear bomb-dropping drill" that made nuclear war more likely. North
Korean state media described US President Donald Trump as a "warmonger".
The
outburst came as the officials said that a controversial US missile
defense system was up and running in South Korea -- albeit in a limited
capacity. That announcement came a week before presidential elections in
South Korea that are expected to bring in a government critical of the
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, known as THAAD.
The latest belligerent
statement from Pyongyang was a response to the deployment of two US
bombers over the Korean peninsula on Monday -- as part of a joint drill
with South Korea and Japan's air forces.
South
Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told a briefing
Tuesday that the deployment was part of an effort to "respond to North
Korea's nuclear missile threat and to deter North Korea's provocations."
North
Korean state news agency KCNA denounced the exercise in typically
bombastic terms. "The reckless military provocation is pushing the
situation on the Korean peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war,"
KCNA said.
It claimed that
"Trump and other US warmongers" were determined to make a preemptive
nuclear strike on North Korea. Trump said on Monday that he might be willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "under the right circumstances
THAAD deployment
The
latest rhetorical tussle came amid increasing military activity around
the Korean peninsula. A US official said the the THAAD missile system
was now capable of shooting down a North Korean missile,although it was
operating in a limited capacity. The official said thatthe US hopes to
install additional units to increase coverage over South Korea.
THAAD was deployed to South Korea by the US
in response to North Korea's increased missile and nuclear tests, but
the defense system has drawn sharp opposition from China and Russia,
whose territory is within the system's range.
China again expressed its displeasure Tuesday, urging both sides to "stop the deployment immediately."
"We
will also firmly take necessary measures to safeguard our own
interests," added Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.
THAAD
is not expected to be fully operational until the end of the year, but
US and South Korean officials publicly stressed the need to speed up the
deployment of the technology as tensions mounted with Pyongyang.
South
Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun said at a briefing
last week that equipment, including launchers, combat control stations
and radar, had been deployed to the site in North Gyeongsang province
and would be imminently operational.
"These
things are now in place, so you can connect them to get the operational
capability from early on -- that's what 'within days' means," he said.
Political opposition
Moon Jae-in, the frontrunner in South Korea's Presidential election which takes place on May 9, has expressed skepticism over THAAD.
Throughout his campaign he's called for its deployment to be decided by the next government.
Speaking
to South Korean radio station BBS FM on Tuesday, Moon said the
deployment was "not a done deal yet," and should be based on public
consultation and a vote in the country's National Assembly.
Moon's
Democratic Party is currently 20 points clear of its nearest rival,
according to the most recent Gallup Korea daily opinion poll. Around 40%
of voters surveyed said they favored Moon, compared with 24% for
centrist candidate Ahn Cheol-sool
Defenses
THAAD is designed
to shoot down short- and medium-range ballistic missiles in the latter
stages of their flight as they plunge toward their targets.
While
this means it cannot act against the type of intermediate-range
missiles North Korea has been testing in recent months, THAAD also
includes a sophisticated radar that will fit into an overlapping series of US missile defense systems, including Aegis warships operating in the Pacific and Patriot missile batteries deployed to Japan.
The
radar could provide critical early tracking data to these missile
interception systems, as well as those protecting Guam, the closest US
territory to North Korea.
Source: CNN
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