WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US\u00a0Secretary of State Mike Pompeo downplayed North Korea’s latest missile launches, saying they won’t alter the prospects for negotiations on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One day after North Korea called a new round of short-range missiles a “warning” against joint US-South Korea military exercises, Pompeo on Wednesday told reporters that it didn’t impact Washington’s approach to the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest launches were the fourth pair of projectiles fired in less than two weeks by the North. They came after the South Korean and US militaries began mainly computer-simulated joint exercises on Monday to test Seoul’s ability to take operational control in wartime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked if the missile launches dampened the environment for negotiations on denuclearisation, Pompeo replied “No.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“President Donald Trump’s administration strategy with respect to North Korea hasn’t changed,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Our effort is to achieve the full, final denuclearisation of North Korea. We are hopeful that in the coming weeks we will get back to negotiating table to achieve that.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pompeo noted that the recent launches by North Korea did not involve the medium and long-range ballistic missiles that had raised alarms in 2017 and 2018, and that Pyongyang has stopped testing nuclear weapons since September 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the US government has approved the sale of $800 million worth of helicopters to South Korea, the Pentagon announced, hours after Trump said Seoul had agreed to pay more for the US military presence in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon’s Defence Security Cooperation Agency said the State Department had approved the sale of 12 MH-60R Multi-Mission Seahawk Helicopters and extensive associated radar, communications and weaponry equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The helicopters bolster anti-surface and anti-submarine missions, and handle secondary missions like replenishment, search and rescue, and communications relay, the agency said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Republic of Korea will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Seahawk is made by the Sikorsky division of US defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sale was approved after Trump tweeted on Wednesday that the two countries had entered negotiations on South Korea paying for the defence umbrella the United States provides the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Over the past many decades, the US has been paid very little by South Korea,” Trump wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“South Korea is a very wealthy nation that now feels an obligation to contribute to the military defence provided by the United States of America. The relationship between the two countries is a very good one!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two countries have been in a security alliance since the 1950-53 Korean war, which ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty – with more than 28,000 US troops stationed in the South to guard against threats from North Korea. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US\u00a0Secretary of State Mike Pompeo downplayed North Korea’s latest missile launches, saying they won’t alter the prospects for negotiations on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons. One day after North Korea called a new round of short-range missiles a “warning” against joint US-South Korea military exercises, Pompeo on Wednesday told reporters that it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208,215],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36658"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}