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Pyongyang Wields ‘Nuclear’ in the Face of Washington | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Tanks line up for the parade on Saturday. Photograph: AP


Pyongyang, Washington – In an indirect response to US President Donald Trump, North Korea warned on Saturday to use its nuclear weapons in countering any similar attack that might target its territories.

“We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack,” said Choe Ryong-hae, a close aide to Kim Jong Un, during a speech delivered ahead of a giant military parade at Pyongyang’s main Kim II-sung Square.

During the parade, North Korea displayed 60 new long-range and submarine-based missiles. Four huge green ballistic missiles, rolled out on articulated trailers in increasing order of range also caught the attention of military specialists.

Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified South Korean military official as saying: “This appears to be a new intercontinental ballistic missile,” adding that they appeared longer than the country’s existing KN-08 or KN-14 missiles.

Chad O’Carroll, managing director of specialist service NK News, said the new rockets could be liquid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missiles, or an early prototype.

Also on display was the Pukkuksong, a white-painted device on a blue trailer, which is claimed to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

Lee II-Woo, a senior analyst at the private Korea Defence Network, told AFP: “I suspect they all might be mock-ups aimed to impress the outside world.”

Meanwhile, US Vice President Mike Pence left Washington on Saturday to South Korea in a tour involving the Asian Pacific region. Pence’ trip involves Seoul, Tokyo, Jakarta, and Sydney, and is expected to last 10 days.

As Pence lands in South Korea where he would confirm the US fully commitment to its security alliances, especially in the face of the US evolving security challenges, an American aircraft carrier and other warships would be steaming toward the Korean Peninsula.