North Korea could carry out new missile tests during U.S. President Joe Biden’s upcoming visit to Asia, the White House said. “Our i...
North Korea could carry out new missile tests during U.S.
President Joe Biden’s upcoming visit to Asia, the White House said.
“Our intelligence does reflect the genuine possibility that
there will be either a further missile tests – including a long-range missile
test or a nuclear test or, frankly, both – in the days leading into, on, or
after the president’s trip to the region,” national security adviser Jake
Sullivan said during a news conference on Wednesday. “We are preparing for all
contingencies, including the possibility that such a provocation would occur
while we are in Korea or in Japan.”
Mr Sullivan added, “And we are prepared, obviously, to make
both short- and longer-term adjustments to our military posture as necessary to
ensure that we are providing both defense and deterrence to our allies in the
region and that we’re responding to any North Korean provocation.”
Mr Biden is set to arrive in Seoul on Friday and move onto
Tokyo on Sunday in what will be his first trip to Asia as U.S. president.
Last week the White House had warned that North Korea could
test a nuclear weapon for the first time in almost five years as early as in
the month of May.
North Korea last tested a nuclear weapon in September 2017,
marking its sixth such test.
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