North Korea warns US ‘we will make them pay’ as tensions reach ‘danger line’

Pyongyang has told UN disarmament talks that the military drills could even force them to “reconsider the major steps we have taken so far”. North Korea claimed the military drills violate agreements reached with President Donald Trump and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in. A North Korean official said of the drills: “They can neither conceal nor whitewash its aggressive nature in any manner.”

The official added: “The United States is inciting military tension hostile to the DPRK by deploying a large amount of latest offensive military hardware in South Korea in disregard of its commitment to suspend joint military exercises made at summit level.”

North Korea had agreed to suspend its missile and nuclear tests, but since talks fell through, they have launched a number of missiles and rockets.

The US wants North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programme and Pyongyang wants its sanctions to be lifted.

North Korea today fired missiles into the sea off its east coast for the fourth time in less than two weeks.

US Defence Secretary, Mark Esper, said: “The key is to keep the door open for diplomacy… we’re not going to over react to these, but we monitor them, we watch them closely and we’re cognisant of what’s happening.”

Leaders, Mr Trump and Kim Jong-un, met at the end of June at the demilitarised zone dividing the Koreas.

A statement released by North Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday does not mention the missile launches has claimed that the military drills in the South essentially force it to develop and test new weapons.

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source: express.co.uk