U.S. Sends Missile Defenses To Guam Over North Korea Threat

The Pentagon said on Wednesday it was sending an advanced ballistic missile defense system to Guam in the coming weeks, as U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel cited a "real and clear" danger from North Korea.

North Korea has singled out U.S. military bases in Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific, and Hawaii among its potential targets in threats in recent weeks that have put the Korean peninsula on edge and triggered a change in the U.S. defense posture and missile defense planning.
 
"Some of the actions they've taken over the last few weeks, present a real and clear danger," Hagel told an audience at the National Defense University in Washington.

He said those actions had threatened the interests of South Korea and Japan, but he also cited their direct threats against Guam, Hawaii and West Coast of the United States.

Shortly after Hagel spoke, the Pentagon said it was deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), which includes a truck-mounted launcher, interceptor missiles, an AN/TPY-2 tracking radar and an integrated fire control system.

"The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and stands ready to defend U.S. territory, our allies, and our national interests," a Pentagon spokeswoman said.





Source: http://kaaf.com/2013/04/US-Sends-Missile-Defenses-To-Guam-Over-North-Korea-Threat-324385

Russia condemns ‘unacceptable’ N. Korea actions on possible US, S. Korea attack

MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia on Thursday strongly condemned North Korea’s actions in the intensifying standoff with South Korea and the United States, saying Pyongyang was showing a “categorically unacceptable” contempt of UN resolutions.

“For Russia, Pyongyang’s neglect of UN resolutions (on nuclear non-proliferation) is categorically unacceptable,” foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters.

His comments were Russia’s sharpest criticism of Pyongyang in the current crisis. Until now, Moscow had urged restraint from all parties and warned that the general situation risked escalating out of control.

Lukashevich said North Korea’s actions “complicate, if not practically rule out the chances of resuming” the suspended six party talks including world and Asian powers to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Pyongyang has threatened missile and nuclear strikes against the United States and its ally South Korea in response to UN sanctions and joint military drills.

Lukashevich appeared to also take Pyongyang to task over its increasingly bellicose rhetoric.

“Our main thesis is to as soon as possible stop these dangerous manoeuvres and rhetoric and create conditions for restoring as soon as possible the six-party talks process.”

“We remain convinced that all these measures and warlike statements are absolutely categorically unacceptable,” Lukashevich said, describing the situation as “extremely tense”.

Russia shares a short border with North Korea south of Vladivostok in its Far Eastern region and retains relatively close ties with the secretive Stalinist state.




-- Vanguard