US defence secretary Jim Mattis has said the threat of nuclear missile attack by North Korea is accelerating. In remarks with South Korean defence minister Song Young-moo at his side, Mattis accused the North of illegal and unnecessary missile and nuclear programmes and vowed to defeat any attack.
Mattis alongside his South Korean counterpart, Song Young-moo
He said the North engaged in "outlaw" behaviour and that the US will never accept a nuclear North. He added that regardless of what the North might try, it is overmatched by the firepower and cohesiveness of the US-South Korean alliance. He adding that diplomacy remains the preferred way to deal with the North.
Will keep pressuring North Korea: Pence
US Vice President Mike Pence, in a visit to one of America's most potent nuclear bases, vowed that the US will keep up economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. He said th"there is no greater force for peace in this world" than the US nuclear arsenal.
China tells NK to test nuke elsewhere
Moscow: If North Korea wants to go on with the nuclear weapons testing, it has to find new location other than the Punggye-ri mountain range where the previous six tests were done, Chinese scientists said. "China cannot sit and wait until the site implodes," a Peking University researcher said. According to them, the mountain is at imminent risk of collapse, an event which could allow nuclear waste to bleed out into nearby China.
