N.Korean leader pledges countermeasures against US, S.Korea

Pyongyang will continue to take measures against military provocations of the United States and South Korea, whose governments remain "openly hostile" to North Korea, DPRK leader Kim Jong Un said on March 17, following the launch of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, TASS reports.

"I will keep working to make the United States and South Korea - who are openly hostile to our republic - realize the recklessness of large-scale military exercises, which they frequently hold in the Korean Peninsula zone," North Korea’s state-run Voice of Korea radio quoted him as saying on March 17.

He threatened Washington and Seoul with "countermeasures" if they continue their "military provocations" against DPRK.

The essence of those countermeasures was not disclosed.

The North Korean leader also pledged to "respond to nuclear weapons with nuclear weapons, and to open confrontation - with open confrontation".

In this regard, he urged the country’s strategic forces to remain prepared "for armed conflicts and any form of warfare." At the same time, Kim reiterated that Pyongyang’s ultimate goal was to deter war and guarantee peaceful life.

A Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was fired from a site in Pyongyang on Thursday. It covered a distance of some 1,000 kilometres, reaching a maximum altitude of 6,045 kilometres. It took the missile around 67 minutes to strike a designated target in the Sea of Japan. The March 16 launch was North Korea’s eighth missile test since the start of the year. It took place in the run-up to the South Korean president’s first visit to Japan in 12 years.