North Korea declared that it can launch a intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) “at any time” and from any location, while blaming the U.S. for its development of arms.
“The ICBM will be launched anytime and anywhere determined by the supreme headquarters of the DPRK,” a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday, Reuters reports. The statement comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s message, in which he said preparations for launching an ICBM, capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to the continental U.S., have “reached the final stage.”
In response to Kim Jong Un’s earlier statement, President-elect Donald Trump published a tweet stating, “It won’t happen!”
On Sunday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said to NBC’s Meet the Press that North Korea’s nuclear capabilities and ballistic missile defense programs is a “serious threat,” warning that the U.S. was prepared to shoot down any missile aimed at it or an ally. According to experts, Pyongyang is close to a test but years off from perfecting the weapon.
