North Korea poses 'growing' threat to US - Defense Department
6 March 2014, 03:55 -- The Pentagon on Tuesday said North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and strategic missiles poses a growing danger to the United States. In a Quadrennial Defense Review released by the Pentagon this week, the Defense Department said that the increasing nuclear aspirations of North Korea can become a threat to United States. Describing the regime in Pyongyang as "closed and authoritarian," the Defense Department said the US military would maintain a major presence in the region and keep up investments in missile defense.
The North represents 'a significant threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia and is a growing, direct threat to the United States,' said the Quadrennial Defense Review, an update of the military's global strategic outlook.
US forces would continue to collaborate closely with South Korea's military 'to deter and defend against North Korean provocations,' it said.
Meanwhile, North Korea on Wednesday justified its recent short-range missile and artillery flight tests as 'ordinary military practice,' Agence France-Presse reported. In the last week, the North launched a number of tactical ballistic missiles and, on Tuesday, was seen firing seven short-range projectiles into the sea, in an apparent protest of ongoing US-South Korea military exercises.
A Korean People's Army spokesman in a statement disseminated by state-controlled media accused Seoul and Washington of jeopardizing regional stability by holding their bilateral exercises, which are designed to send a deterrent message to Pyongyang.
The strategy document said the United States will seek to stay ahead of the threat of ballistic missile arsenals in Iran and North Korea, noting plans to bolster the number of ground-based interceptors on US soil from 30 to 44 while investing in better sensors.
The US administration also is deploying a second powerful surveillance radar in Japan to provide early warning of any missile launched by North Korea, it said.
North Korea has pressed ahead with its missile program but experts have voiced skepticism over its claims to have a working inter-continental ballistic missile.
'North Korea is doing an act of double standard by taking a peace offensive ostensibly, but later launching reckless provocative acts,' South Korea's Defense Ministry spokesman, Kim Min-seok said.
He added that the missiles that were launched without prior notice pose a serious threat to international aviation and maritime navigators as well as civilian safety.
Voice of Russia, allvoices.com, defensenews.com, nationaljournal.com
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
