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DPRK slams S. Korean president for justifying THAAD deployment

Xinhua, August 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday slammed South Korean President Park Geun-hye for her remarks on the North's nuclear and missile threats to justify her government's deal with Washington to introduce a missile shield.

Her remarks, made on Tuesday, were "a last-ditch effort to divert to the DPRK the accusation and denunciation focused on her by people from all walks of life in South Korea and the world for her moves for deploying THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense)," said a spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea.

"Intolerable is Park's move to abuse the DPRK's nuclear deterrence for self-defense ... for justifying her despicable pro-U.S. act of treachery," the spokesman said in a statement carried by the state media KCNA.

The statement also said that what Pyongyang's nuclear forces deem as their real enemy is the nuclear war itself and that its strategic weapons target the United States and its followers that are keen on stifling the DPRK, rather than the Korean nation or the compatriots in the South.

Park's government is now putting at stake the security and peace of the South Korean people, challenging the unanimous desire of the nation and the international community for improved inter-Korean relations and even national independent reunification, it added.

Earlier Wednesday, the DPRK fired two ballistic missiles in an apparent protest against the THAAD deployment in South Korea, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Two DPRK ballistic missiles, estimated to be Rodong, were fired eastward from South Hwanghae Province at about 7:50 a.m. Seoul time (2250 GMT Tuesday), but one exploded with an unsuccessful launch.

On July 8, South Korea and the United States abruptly announced an agreement to deploy one THAAD battery by the end of next year. Five days later, the deployment site was designated at Seongju county, some 250 km southeast of Seoul.

The decision has triggered wide criticism and strong opposition in the country and from such neighboring countries as China and Russia, because the X-band radar of the system could easily penetrate into the territories of the two countries. Endi