North Korea pledged to pursue its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in defiance of the United States and its allies with a top envoy saying there is now a state of “semi-war” on the divided peninsula. So Se Pyong, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, made the statement on Friday as the US and South Korea held military exercises, which he said were aimed at the “decapitation of the supreme leadership of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea]”.
“If the United States continues, then we have to make the counter-measures also. So we have to develop and we have to make more deterrence – nuclear deterrence,” So said in an interview with Reuters news agency. The ambassador’s statement came as North Korea fired a new short-range missile into the sea on Friday and tried to jam GPS navigation signals in South Korea, according to Seoul officials.
The latest missile firing took place just hours after US, South Korean, and Japanese leaders agreed to work together to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat. US President Barack Obama joined South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday in vowing to ramp up pressure on North Korea in response to its recent nuclear and missile tests.
The three leaders warned they could take further steps to counter threats from Pyongyang. In January, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test and in February launched a long-range rocket, angering even its closest ally China, and prompting the UN Security Council to impose more sanctions on the reclusive state.
