North Korea has claimed its new air defense system is capable of intercepting U.S. warplanes and missiles seeking to disarm or destroy Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons stockpile.
Citing previous reports by Sputnik News, Reuters, Sky News, International Business Times and The Japan Times, North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency claimed Wednesday that the country’s recently-tested anti-aircraft apparatus possessed the same capabilities as the U.S.’s Patriot and Russia’s C-300 missile defense systems. In a commentary entitled “U.S. Can Never Prevent DPRK from Bolstering up Nuclear Capability,” the North Korean outlet asserted that Washington’s threats to end Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program by military force were empty and that “U.S. strategic bombers and ultramodern stealth fighters can no longer fly over the Korean peninsula at their will.”
Related: North Korea says it wants peace, but is ready to fight the U.S. with nuclear weapons
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“The U.S. is leaving no stone unturned to prevent the DPRK’s increase of nuclear strike capability, but in vain,” the piece quoted government-controlled newspaper Minju Joson as saying Wednesday, using an acronym referring to North Korea’s official name: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “It can never check the building of Juche-based nuclear force by the DPRK.”
“The U.S. would be well advised to bear in mind that it has no other option but to roll back its hostile policy towards the DPRK, if it does not want to suffer a bitterer[sic] disgrace and find itself in a more difficult position,” the piece added.
Late last month, North Korean official television stations showed footage of leader Kim Jong Un supervising the test of a new anti-aircraft weapon system organized by the Academy of National Defence Science, a government agency thought by Western observers to be involved in weapons research and development. The reclusive, militarized country has come under increased external pressure in recent months since reports of a planned sixth nuclear weapons test prompted President Donald Trump to summon at least two naval aircraft carrier strike groups to the region. Trump and his administration have called on North Korea’s greatest ally, China, to engage its Asia-Pacific neighbor in dialogue. At the same time, the U.S. has continued to develop its military presence in the region, something which both North Korea and China have strongly opposed……More Here