North Korea delivered a veiled threat of an imminent “powerful” missile launch in a fresh round of rhetoric that has stirred tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Pyongyang has put “powerful striking means” on standby for a launch with “the coordinates of targets put into warheads,” according to the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, a nonmilitary agency that deals with relations with South Korea.
The latest statement in a torrent of warlike North Korean threats comes amid speculation that the reclusive nation is preparing to test-fire a medium-range missile.
The missile, known as Musudan, is designed to reach the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean and could be launched during the mass celebration of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung’s birth anniversary on April 15, reports The Associated Press.
This also follows new US intelligence that revealed the North is probably capable of arming a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead.
But the war talk is seen outside Pyongyang as a way for North Korea to draw attention to the precarious security situation on the Korean peninsula and to boost the military credentials of young leader Kim Jong-un.
