US Warns North Korea Against Testing Nuclear-Capable Missile

The United States has warned North Korea against carrying out “provocative actions,” after Pyongyang said it was putting the final touches to a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the US soil

The Pentagon issued a statement on Sunday warning North Korea that it would face serious consequences if it makes good on its most recent threat of testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Press TV reports:

The warning came only hours after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced the regime’s plans to test the new ICBM.

“We are in the final stages of test-launching the intercontinental ballistic missile,” he was quoted as saying by AFP, describing his country as a “military power of the East that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy.”

In its response, the Pentagon advised Pyongyang to “refrain from provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric that threaten international peace and stability.”

It also highlighted that “multiple UN Security Council resolutions explicitly prohibit North Korea’s launches using ballistic missile technology.”

Pyongyang has defied the pressures to stop its nuclear and missile programs by insisting on its right to develop the technologies for “self-defense.”

Pyongyang will continue to boost its military capacity, Kim said, until Washington puts an end to its regular military exercises in the region with rival South Korea.

The Pentagon, however, reaffirmed America’s “ironclad commitment” to its allies in the region, noting that Washington would resort to “the full spectrum of US extended deterrence capabilities” to keep that promise.

The US has long been deploying advanced weaponry to South Korea under the pretext of defending the country against the North’s aggression.

Although experts are divided over the success rate of North Korea’s ICBM tests so far, they all agree that the secretive country has made enormous strides in achieving the know-how.