South Korea has proposed to hold rare military talks with North Korea on Friday as it seeks to ease tensions escalated by Pyongyang’s test launch of intercontinental ballistic missile earlier this month.
The U.S. and S. Korea conducted joint ballistic missile drill on Wednesday as tensions escalated in the Korean peninsula after the North claimed that it successfully tested an ICBM capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.
North Korea claimed on Tuesday that it has successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, adding that the projectile has beefed up the regime’s missile capability to strike anywhere in the world.
Responding to the joint training drills carried out by the U.S., S. Korean and Japanese air forces on Monday, North Korea stepped up its war-rhetoric and vowed to conduct another nuclear test “at any time.”
The U.S. and South Korea tightened the noose around the North, warning the reclusive state of “swift punitive measures” in case it resorts to further provocative activity with its nuclear and missile expansion programs.
Amid fears that North Korea may carry out another missile or nuclear test, a U.S. submarine arrived in South Korea, further intensifying the tensions sparked by heated rhetorical exchanges over the last week.
The diplomatic ties between North Korea and Malaysia hit a new low on Tuesday as the two nations imposed exit bans on each other’s citizens amid a growing rift over the assassination of Kim Jong-nam.
