White House: U.S. can defend against N. Korea attack
By The Associated Press
This article was published March 7, 2013 at 1:37 p.m.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is fully capable of defending itself against a North Korean ballistic missile attack, the White House said Thursday, after Pyongyang threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States.
The threat from Pyongyang came ahead of a unanimous vote in the U.N. Security Council approving its toughest sanctions yet on North Korea in response to an atomic test last month.
North Korea has escalated its bellicose statements this week as the tightening of U.N. sanctions loomed. It has also threatened to scrap the cease-fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
“I can tell you that the United States is fully capable of defending against any North Korean ballistic missile attack,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
North Korea has now conducted three nuclear tests, although experts doubt it has mastered how to mount a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland United States.
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