Alwaght- North Korea warned on Monday it will make a "physical response" to US deployment of THAAD anti-missile system on the Korean peninsula.
"There will be physical response measures from us as soon as the location and time that the invasionary tool for US world supremacy, THAAD, will be brought into South Korea are confirmed," the North's military said in a statement.
The South Korean Ministry of Defense announced on Friday that Seoul and Washington had reached an agreement to put a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system in South Korea amid growing nuclear and missile threats from the North. According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, the system is expected to be in operation by the end of 2017.
Official KCNA news agency cited North Korea's military as saying" It is the unwavering will of our army to deal a ruthless retaliatory strike and turn (the South) into a sea of fire and a pile of ashes the moment we have an order to carry it out".
The move to deploy the high-tech missile system also drew a quick and sharp reaction from China and Russia.
Russia warned that the US deployment of the missile system would have ‘irreparable consequences’, echoing warnings by China of a threat to regional security.
“From the very beginning of the discussion of this issue we have consistently and invariably pointed at the most dangerous consequences of such a decision and called for our partners not to make this wrong choice. Unfortunately, our calls have remained unheard,” reads a Russian Foreign Ministry statement released Friday.
China on Friday also said the system would “seriously damage the strategic security interests of countries in the region” and urged Washington to stop the deployment process.
China and Russia have been saying for months that THAAD is unnecessary and would tip the balance of power in the Pacific towards the United States.
