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\u201cWe will show more offensive action against the enemies\u2019 threat on the principle of ensuring security and defending peace by dint of powerful strength,\u201d the defence minister said, according to a report on Saturday by the North\u2019s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).<\/p>\n
\u201cAll threats encroaching upon the sphere of the North\u2019s security\u201d will become \u201cdirect targets\u201d and be \u201cmanaged in a necessary way\u201d, South Korea\u2019s Yonhap news agency also reported the defence minister as saying.<\/p>\n
The missile launch on Friday followed after Washington announced new sanctions targeting eight North Korean nationals and two entities accused of laundering money tied to cybercrimes, and a visit to South Korea by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the visit by US and South Korean defence chiefs to the border between North and South Korea, as well as their subsequent security talks in Seoul, the North Korean defence minister accused the allies of conspiring to integrate their nuclear and conventional weapons forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have correctly understood the hostility of the US to stand in confrontation with the DPRK to the last and will never avoid the response to it,\u201d No said, using the initials of the North\u2019s official name, the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea.<\/p>\n
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A TV screen shows a North Korean missile launch at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday [Lee Jin-man\/AP Photo]<\/p>\n
According to KCNA, the defence minister made his comments on Friday in response to the annual South Korea-US Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) and the recent arrival of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier and the Fifth Carrier Strike Group at a port in Busan.<\/p>\n
The arrival of the US strike group also coincides with large-scale joint military drills, known as Freedom Flag, between US and South Korean forces.<\/p>\n
While in South Korea for the SCM talks this week, Hegseth posted several photos on social media of his visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the North and the South.<\/p>\n
Hegseth said that the core of Washington\u2019s alliance with Seoul would remain focused on deterring North Korea, although the Trump administration will also look at flexibility for US troops stationed in South Korea to operate against regional threats.<\/p>\n
\nI visited the DMZ with my ROK counterpart, Minister Ahn, to meet the brave troops of the U.S., ROK, and UN Command that maintain the military armistice on the Peninsula. <\/p>\n
Our forces remain ready to support President Trump\u2019s efforts to bring lasting peace through strength. pic.twitter.com\/Uy6gab0zwl<\/a><\/p>\n