North Korea vows stronger defence against 'provocative attempts' by South Korea, US
North Korea on Saturday reaffirmed its commitment to bolstering its defensive capabilities to deter what it calls "provocative attempts" by South Korea and the United States
- SEOUL — North Korea on Saturday reaffirmed its commitment to bolstering
its defensive capabilities to deter what it calls "provocative
attempts" by South Korea and the United States, the North's state media
reported on Saturday.
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- "The DPRK's bolstering of its self-defensive
capabilities is an essential requirement for deterring rivals' ever-increasing
various provocative attempts and ensuring the security of the state," read
a press statement of Pyongyang's defence policy chief, Yonhap news agency
reported quoting the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
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- DPRK is the acronym of the North's official name, the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
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- The statement was released a day after the commander of
the US Northern Command, General Gregory Guillot, said before the US Senate
Armed Services Committee that the North's newest Intercontinental Ballistic
Missile (ICBM) could pose a direct threat to the US mainland and overwhelm its
defences.
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- Guillot said Pyongyang may be moving towards producing
new ICBMs capable of striking North America.
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- Pyongyang's defence official slammed the US General's
remarks, accusing the US of falsely charging North Korea of making
"threats" that are "non-existent."
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- "The US describing this as a 'threat' only proves
that it is hostile to the DPRK," the official said, noting the US is
trying to justify its "adventurous military ambitions."
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- "It is just self-defensive right of a sovereign
state to steadily develop the self-defence capability," he added.
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- "The armed forces of the DPRK will as ever fully
deter and control all kinds of challenges and threats from its rival countries
by dint of powerful self-defence capability and faithfully discharge their
mission for reliably defending peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and
in the region."
