PYONGYANG, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) slammed the latest U.S. military moves for causing nuclear instability and vowed to consider countermeasures, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.
A U.S. Navy nuclear attack submarine entered South Korea's Busan operation base Tuesday under the pretext of replenishing its munitions, after the United States sent the nuclear carrier George Washington strike group to South Korea 46 days ago, the news agency reported, citing a press statement from the Ministry of National Defence.
The repeated emergence of U.S. strategic assets risks escalating military tensions in the Korean Peninsula and the region, the statement said.
The United States reaffirmed its commitment to offering South Korea "extended deterrence" by mobilizing all defense forces, including nuclear weapons, at the fifth U.S.-South Korea Nuclear Consultative Group meeting recently held in Washington. And it has given the green light to South Korea's development of nuclear submarine technology and is frequently deploying its nuclear submarines to the peninsula, the statement added.
The DPRK remains unchanged in its practical will to strongly advance the development of its defense capabilities and safeguard security, and the country will consider countermeasures in response to the U.S. nuclear muscle-flexing, it added. ■
