The United States stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea and regularly holds joint military drills with South Korea. Pyongyang has long demanded Washington withdraw its troops from South Korea and stop the joint drills, which it calls an invasion rehearsal. However, North Korea was slapped with new UN sanctions in March, and Kerry urged the international community to fully enforce those and previous sanctions. North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons to cope with what it sees as US military threats. “As a responsible nuclear state, we will not carelessly use our nuclear weapons unless we come to face an actual threat, (or) a threat of invasion from another nuclear state,” Ri was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

Source: Indian Express July 26, 2016 15:22 UTC