Reports from a senior official indicate that North Korea will continue to test its missiles despite international condemnation and growing military tensions with the US. Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol told the BBC that North Korea will be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis.
The official warned that an all-out war would result if the US took military action. The US Vice-President Mike Pence warned North Korea not to test the US. Pence emphasized that the United States’ era of strategic patience with North Korea was over.
The Vice-President arrived in Seoul on Sunday hours after North Korea carried out a failed missile launch. The tensions have been escalating on the peninsula, with heated rhetoric from both North Korea and the US.
The Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol told BBC that if the US is planning a military attack against North Korea, they will react with a nuclear pre-emptive strike by their own style and method.
The world is concerned over North Korea’s accelerated nuclear and missile tests in recent years, despite international condemnation and UN sanctions.
North Korea aims at putting a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach targets around the world, including the US.
US President Donald Trump has held his cards to his chest on North Korean solution. Mr. Trump said that North Korea will not achieve its ambitions on putting a warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile, he also stepped up pressure on the isolated North.
President Donald Trump has sent a navy strike group towards the Korean Peninsula, and the US and South Korea are moving ahead with the early deployment of a controversial missile defense system.
Despite the tension, North Korea may carry out a sixth nuclear test soon.
Sundays missile test exploded within seconds of launch after the grand military parade on Saturday. Mr. Pence, who was speaking alongside South Korea's acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn on Monday, warned North Korea not test US President Donald Trump. Mr. Pence said that the world has already witnessed the strength and resolve of the new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan.
Mr. Pence reiterated US support for South Korea, telling South Korea that the U.S has the South’s back 100%. The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had also warned that pre-emptive military action was on the table.
The U.S. is also collaborating with China, which is North Korea's main ally. China has tried to pressure the regime to stop nuclear and missile tests. The United States policy appears to persuade China to contain North Korea while keeping the economic and military pressure on.
In response, North Korea’s Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol told the BBC that North Korea believed its nuclear weapons protect it from the threat of US military action.
