MOSCOW (Sputnik) — North Korea is ready to launch its missile carrying nuclear warheads "at any time," the country's ambassador to the United Kingdom told Sky News TV channel on Friday.
“We mean what we mean. It is not the United States that has a monopoly on nuclear weapons strikes,” Hyun Hak-bong, North Korea's ambassador to the United Kingdom, said. The state has the ability to launch a deadly warhead “at any time,” he said.
North Korea’s nuclear intentions are exclusively peaceful, and Pyongyang would fire its prepared missiles only in the event of an attack from the US side, the diplomat added.
On Thursday, South Korea and the United States started another round of joint marine military drills that will engage up to 1,000 US marines and 3,000 of their South Korean counterparts.
Earlier in March, North Korea launched two short-range missiles toward the Sea of Japan. The move came amid the annual US and South Korean military exercises. North Korea stated it viewed them as a probable threat, although the United States claimed the drills were of a defensive nature.
