Pentagon moves anti-missile shield to Pacific and U.S. troops are 'poised to respond' after North Korean madman deploys ballistic rocket within range of Japan and says nuke strike is 'authorised'

• Missile defense system is being sent to Pacific island of Guam by U.S.
• N Korea has moved what appears to be a Musudan missile to its east coat
• U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel:'Real and clear danger' from Korea
  
• Chinese soldiers and weaponry massing on border with Korean Peninsula
• John Kerry warns that North is 'provocative, dangerous and reckless'
• North Korea Twitter account has been hacked
• Yongbyon nuclear site set to be restarted after being closed for six months

North Korea warned today that its military has been cleared to attack the U.S. using 'smaller, lighter and diversified' nuclear weapons as the Pentagon announced it is deploying a missile to the Pacific island of Guam.
The strident warning from Pyongyang is the latest in a series of escalating threats from North Korea and today it announced its military had been given final approval to launch a nuclear strike.
U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has admitted that North Korea is a 'real and clear danger' to the U.S. and its allies.
The North had named Guam among a list of possible targets for attack that included Hawaii and the US mainland.
Despite the intense rhetoric, analysts do not expect a nuclear attack by North Korea, which knows the move could trigger a destructive, suicidal war.
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Public show: Soldiers of the U.S. Army's 23rd chemical battalion put on their gear as they give a demonstration of their equipment

Preparations: Soldiers watch a bomb disposal robot during a demonstration of their equipment

Display: Soldiers of the U.S. Army 23rd chemical battalion try out their equipment as they give a demonstration

Official return: A U.S. Army helicopter approaches to land after a ceremony of the U.S. Army's 23rd chemical battalion, which was held to give notice of its official return to the 2nd Infantry Division based in South Korea, at Camp Stanley in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul

Support: The 23rd chemical battalion left South Korea in 2004 but the battalion with about 250 soldiers returned to the South in January to support South Korean military and the U.S. troops based in the South, according to the infantry division

Exercise: Soldiers check mock chemical pollutants on one another during a demonstration

A map showing the movement in the region. North Korea warned today that its military has been cleared to attack the U.S. using 'smaller, lighter and diversified' nuclear weapons as the Pentagon announced it is deploying a missile to the Pacific island of Guam

Experts believe Pyongyang does not yet have the ability to launch nuclear-tipped missiles, but its other nuclear capabilities aren't fully known.

North Korea has railed against joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises taking place in South Korea and has expressed anger over tightened sanctions for its February nuclear test.
Today South Korea's defense minister said that North Korea has moved a missile with 'considerable range' to its east coast, but he added that there are no signs that Pyongyang is preparing for a full-scale conflict.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin dismissed reports in Japanese media that the missile could be a KN-08, which is believed to be a long-range missile that if operable could hit the United States.

Kim told lawmakers at a parliamentary committee meeting that the missile has 'considerable range' but not enough to hit the U.S. mainland.

On guard: A North Korean soldier looks through binoculars at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Korea

Truce village: South Korean soldiers stand guard as a North Korean soldier is seen at the truce village of Panmunjom

Threats: South Korean wait for clearance at the border check point in Paju. North Korea threatened to pull its 53,000 workers from the Kaesong joint industrial zone with South Korea and close the complex, a day after it blocked access for South Korean personnel

MISSILE MOVED TO NORTH KOREA EAST COAST

North Korea has moved what appears to be a mid-range Musudan missile to its east coast, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Thursday, quoting multiple government sources privy to intelligence from U.S. and South Korean authorities.
It was not clear if the missile was mounted with a warhead or whether the North was planning to fire it or was just putting it on display as a show of force, one South Korean government source was quoted as saying.
'South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities have obtained indications the North has moved an object that appears to be a mid-range missile to the east coast,' the source said.
The Musudan missile is believed to have a range of 3,000 km (1,875 miles) or more, which would put all of South Korea and Japan in range and possibly also the U.S. territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. North Korea is not believed to have tested these mid-range missiles, according to most independent experts
North Korea has threatened a nuclear strike on the United States and missile attacks on its Pacific bases, including in Guam. Those threats followed new U.N. sanctions imposed on the North after it carried out its third nuclear test in February.
The Yonhap report did not say if the missile had been moved to the missile site.
Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper issued a similar report on Thursday, saying the North had moved what appeared to be a long-range missile to its east coast.

The range he described could refer to a mobile North Korean missile known as the Musudan, which has a range of 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles).

That would make Japan and South Korea potential targets, but little is known about the missile's accuracy.
The defence minister said he did not know the reasons behind the missile movement, saying it 'could be for testing or drills.'

Experts say North Korea has not demonstrated that it has missiles capable of long range or accuracy.

Some suspect that long-range missiles unveiled by Pyongyang at a parade last year were actually mockups.
Kim Kwan-jin said that if North Korea were preparing for a full-scale conflict, there would be signs including the mobilization of a number of units, including supply and rear troops, but South Korean military officials have found no such preparations.

'(North Korea's recent threats) are rhetorical threats. I believe the odds of a full-scale provocation are small,' he said.
But he added that there is still the possibility of North Korea mounting a localized, small-scale provocation against South Korea.
He cited the 2010 shelling of a South Korean island, an attack that killed four people, as a possible example of such a provocation.
Pyongyang has been railing against joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises taking place in South Korea and has expressed anger over tightened U.N. sanctions for its February nuclear test.
Analysts say the threats are probably efforts to provoke softer policies from South Korea, to win diplomatic talks with Washington and to solidify the image of young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

VIDEO: U.S. army demonstrates decontamination exercise in South Korea

 

U.S. army demonstrates decontamination exercise in South Korea

This photo of Kim Jong Un and his military advisors was released last week as North Korea announced it was preparing strikes against mainland U.S.

This map, built from an EPA photo and a map made by University of Alabama is oriented making the assumption that the leftmost target is Los Angeles and the rightmost target is New York City

Hackers have apparently disrupted North Korea's government-run Twitter account. The disruption comes at a time of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The North's Uriminzokkiri's Twitter account on Thursday displayed four tweets saying 'hacked.' A fifth tweet said 'Tango Down' and was followed by a link to Uriminzokkiri's Flickr page.
Both sites were running Thursday but carrying content that differed sharply from content typically posted by the regime in Pyongyang, leading viewers to assume the accounts had been hacked.
North Korea opened its Uriminzokkiri Twitter account in 2010 to use the social media to praise its system and leaders.
At times Pyongyang has gone beyond rhetoric.

Training: South Korean soldiers place a camouflage net over their military vehicle during a military exercise near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju

Duties: South Korean soldiers man cannons at a military training field after North Korea dramatically escalated its warlike rhetoric today

South Korean marines work on their K-55 self-propelled howitzers during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, on Wednesday

Training: South Korean soldiers place a camouflage net over their vehicle as they take part in training

For a second day running this morning North Korean border authorities denied entry to South Koreans who manage jointly run factories in the North Korean city of Kaesong.
A North Korean government-run committee threatened to pull out North Korean workers from Kaesong as well.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang announced it would restart a plutonium reactor it had shut down in 2007.
A U.S. research institute said yesterday that satellite imagery shows that construction needed for the restart has already begun.
North Korea's military statement Thursday said its troops had been authorized to counter U.S. 'aggression' with 'powerful practical military counteractions,' including nuclear weapons.

Worst-case scenario: North Korea's best hope to score a strike on a U.S. territory would be to fire the Taepodong-2 rocket, which could possibly make it to Alaska

Nascent technology: A map from the Federation of American Scientists and the Center for Non-proliferation Studies shows that North Korea's missiles cannot even reach India about 3,100 miles away

'We formally inform the White House and Pentagon that the ever-escalating U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK and its reckless nuclear threat will be smashed by the strong will of all the united service personnel and people and cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means,' an unnamed spokesman from the General Bureau of the Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by state media, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
'The U.S. had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation.'
The Pentagon announced that it will deploy a missile defense system to the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam to strengthen regional protection against a possible attack.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Washington is doing all it can to defuse the situation, echoing comments a day earlier by Secretary of State John Kerry.

'Some of the actions they've taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger and threat to the interests, certainly of our allies, starting with South Korea and Japan, and also the threats that the North Koreans have leveled directly at the United States regarding our base in Guam, threatened Hawaii, threatened the West Coast of the United States,' Hagel said yesterday.

North Koreans gather for a rally to show their support for a potential nuclear war against the United States. This picture was released by North Korea's official news agency and was not verified by a third party

North Koreans hold posters of their previous leaders, Kim Il-sung, left, Kim Jong-Il

The poster here reads 'safeguard to the death' as the North Korean army said it had approval to attack the United States with its nuclear weapons

South Korea's Defense Ministry said its military is ready to deal with any provocation by North Korea.
'I can say we have no problem in crisis management,' deputy ministry spokesman Wee Yong-sub told reporters.

This spring's annual U.S.-South Korea drills have incorporated fighter jets and nuclear-capable stealth bombers, though the allies insist they are routine exercises. Pyongyang calls them rehearsals for a northward invasion.

The foes fought on opposite sides of the Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953.

The divided Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war six decades later, and Washington keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect its ally.

Tumble: South Koren dealers work in front of monitors at the Exchange Bank in Seoul. A torrent of threats from North Korea saw the key stock index tumble 1.2 percent and the local currency sinking against the U.S. dollar

Danger: U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has admitted that North Korea is a 'real and clear danger'to the U.S. and its allies

North Korea poses 'clear and present danger' says Defense...

North Korea's nuclear strike capabilities remain unclear.

Pyongyang is believed to be working toward building an atomic bomb small enough to mount on a long-range missile.
Long-range rocket launches designed to send satellites into space in 2009 and 2012 were widely considered covert tests of missile technology, and North Korea has conducted three underground nuclear tests, most recently in February.

'I don't believe North Korea has the capacity to attack the United States with nuclear weapons mounted on missiles, and won't for many years.
Its ability to target and strike South Korea is also very limited,' nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, said this week.

'We will defend ourselves and our allies' US Secretary of State

Blocked: South Korean vehicles and workers have been banned from entering North Korea today

Turning back: Vans which have been refused entry to the Kaesong industrial complex return to South Korea

COUNTDOWN TO 'MERCILESS STRIKES'

December 2011: Kim Jong Il died and his son Kim Jong Un was named his successor.

April 2012: To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder Kim Il Sung, Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket which fell into the sea.
August 2012: Ahead of the annual US-South Korean drills, Kim Jong Un announced that the North Korean army was ready to deal 'deadly blows
December 2012: North Korea successfully launched a rocket, boosting the credentials of its new leader and stepping up the threat the isolated and impoverished state poses to opponents. The rocket was labelled by the United States, South Korea and Japan as a test of technology that could one day deliver a nuclear warhead.

January 2013: North Korea announced it was planning a new nuclear test, raising the confrontation with the US to a whole new level.
February 12: North Korea conducted its third nuclear test and warned that further measures would follow if the US continued its “hostility” against the North. The UN subsequently imposed more sanctions on the county.
March 29: Following a mock bombing of North Korea by a US B-2 stealth bomber during a joint military drills, Pyongyang ordered rocket units be put on standby to fire on US bases in the South Pacific.
March 30: North Korea declared it was entering a 'state of war' against its Southern neighbor.
April 3: North Korea announces it had approval to use its nuclear weapons against the United States in a 'merciless' attack

'And even if Pyongyang had the technical means, why would the regime want to launch a nuclear attack when it fully knows that any use of nuclear weapons would result in a devastating military response and would spell the end of the regime?' he said in answers posted to CISAC's website.

In Seoul, a senior government official said Tuesday it wasn't clear how advanced North Korea's nuclear weapons capabilities are.
But he also noted fallout from any nuclear strike on Seoul or beyond would threaten Pyongyang as well, making a strike unlikely.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly to the media.

North Korea maintains that it needs to build nuclear weapons to defend itself against the United States.

On Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led a high-level meeting of party officials who declared building the economy and 'nuclear armed forces' as the nation's two top priorities.

Hecker has estimated that North Korea has enough plutonium to make several crude nuclear bombs.
Its announcement Tuesday that it would restart a plutonium reactor indicated that it intends to produce more nuclear weapons material.

The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies has analyzed recent commercial satellite imagery of the Nyongbyon nuclear facility, where the reactor was shut down in 2007 under the terms of a disarmament agreement.

A cooling tower for the reactor was destroyed in 2008.

The analysis published yesterday on the institute's website, 38 North, says that rebuilding the tower would take six months, but a March 27 photo shows building work may have started for an alternative cooling system that could take just weeks.

Experts estimate it could take three months to a year to restart the plant.

North Korea today announced that it would kick-start its nuclear programme once again by re-opening a complex which was closed as part of disarmament talks six years ago. A file handout satellite image shows the Yongbyon complex nuclear facility

Threat: Kim Jong Un, pictured centre at a meeting of North Korea's parliament yesterday, has vowed to re-open the country's nuclear facilities

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