North Korea warned on Wednesday it was prepared to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at any time, as the US successfully tested a system designed to intercept them.
The fresh sabre-rattling from Pyongyang appeared to up the stakes as the Pentagon announced on Tuesday it had intercepted a mock-up of an ICMB in a first-of-its-kind test.
The success of the test is a watershed moment for the US military’s effort to establish an effective — though limited — ground-based defence against ICBMs as the North ramps up its threats.
“We’re prepared to test-fire ICMBs anywhere and anytime on orders from the supreme commander (Kim Jong-Un)”, the Rodong Sinmun paper said in the article entitled: “No one can stop the nuclear power state, rocketry master in the East”.
The paper added: “The United States must know our declaration that we can turn the devils’ den into ashes with nuclear weapons is not an empty threat.”