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| Kirby noted the U.S. has clearly and repeatedly called the North Korean missile launches a threat to U.S. allies and partners in the region. (Photo from US Embassy Website) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] WASHINGTON: Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said Tuesday that the United States takes very seriously the threat posed by North Korea's "improving" missile programs.
However, he said the U.S. is still assessing the nature of North Korea's recent missile launches, apparently to learn their exact capabilities. "We will continue to take this threat and this improving program of Pyongyang very, very seriously," he told a press briefing when asked about North's recent missile launches. North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Monday (Seoul time), marking its fourth missile launch since the start of the new year. "We've assessed them as ballistic missiles, and we're still running the traps on that. So I don't have more detail on that," Kirby said when asked about the nature of the missiles involved in the latest North Korean launch.
North Korea fired what it claims to be a newly developed hypersonic missile on Jan. 5 and Jan. 11 before launching two short-range ballistic missiles on Friday. Kirby noted the U.S. has clearly and repeatedly called the North Korean missile launches a threat to U.S. allies and partners in the region. "We're not devaluing anything. Not at all," he said when asked if the U.S. was downplaying the threat posed by the North Korean missile launches since they didn’t pose an immediate threat to the U.S. homeland.
