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Pentagon says deterrence of North Korea ‘continues to work’
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Thursday that deterrence of North Korea "continues to work," hours after the Kim regime launched another intercontinental ballistic missile.
North Korea has revealed new, smaller nuclear warheads on Tuesday as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group docked in South Korea.
The unveiling of the warheads, called Hwasan-31s, show potential progress by the North in creating warheads that are strong, yet small enough to place on intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching American shores, experts told Reuters.
Images released by North Korea showed Kim Jong Un viewing the weaponry at an undisclosed location.
“Saying with deep emotion that we have dauntlessly taken a rigorous and long road for possessing nuclear weapons, he clarified again that the enemy our nuclear force with powerful deterrence matches are not any state and specific group but war and nuclear disaster themselves, and the line of our Party on increasing nuclear force is aimed to defend the eternal security of the state and the regional peace and stability from A to Z,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, on Tuesday ordered his country to ramp up production of “weapon-grade nuclear materials.” ( KRT/via Reuters TV/Handout)
The KCNA also said Kim directed his country’s Nuclear Weapons Institute to “expand on a far-sighted way the production of weapon-grade nuclear materials for thoroughly implementing the plan of the Party Central Committee on increasing nuclear arsenals exponentially.”
The events were reported as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group, led by the USS Nimitz, docked in Busan, South Korea following joint naval drills, according to Reuters.
“We don’t seek conflicts with the DPRK. We seek peace and security. We’re not going to be coerced, we’re not going to be bullied and we’re not going anywhere,” the strike group’s commander, Rear Adm. Christopher Sweeney, was quoted as saying.
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Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz approaches a naval base in Busan, South Korea, on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. (Yonhap/Reuters)
However, the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, in a recent column, said the naval drills amount to “an open declaration of war” and bear signs of a “preemptive attack” against North Korea, Reuters reported.
“The frantic war drills in the puppet region are not just military drills but nuclear war drills for a preemptive strike… pursuant to the U.S. political and military option to escalate confrontation with the DPRK and finally lead to a war,” it reportedly said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting nuclear warheads at an undisclosed location. (KRT/via Reuters TV/Handout)
On Monday, North Korea fired a ballistic missile off its east coast.
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Reuters reported that South Korea’s military confirmed the missile launch, as did Japan’s Coast Guard, which said the projectile had fallen from the sky.
Monday’s incident comes just days after a round of missiles were fired from the South Hamgyong province, last Wednesday.
Fox News Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.