Washington was swift to respond, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging Kim to “take a different course,” adding that the US wanted “peace not confrontation” with North Korea. Pyongyang has previously fired missiles capable of reaching the US mainland and has carried out six nuclear tests, the last of them 16 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, according to the highest estimates. “The world will witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed by the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] in the near future,” he added. The full meeting of the central committee of the Workers’ Party was an indication of a major policy shift. Washington had “conducted tens of big and small joint military drills which its president personally promised to stop,” and sent high-tech military equipment to South Korea, he said.

Source: Taipei Times January 01, 2020 16:07 UTC