North Korea is ready to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile "at any time, at any place," a senior diplomat in Pyongyang was quoted as saying Wednesday.
Choe Kang-il, deputy director general for North American affairs at the North's foreign ministry, made the threat in an interview in Pyongyang with NBC Television, repeating Pyongyang's long-running claims its nuclear and missile programs are for self-defense purposes.
"Our measures to bolster our nuclear arsenal are all defensive in nature -- to defend our sovereignty and to cope with the persistent nuclear blackmail and threats by the United States against our country," Choe was quoted as saying, according to the report.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in his New Year's Day address that the country has entered the final stage of preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, an apparent threat that the North is close to developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the continental U.S.
In response, U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to stop the North from mastering such ICBM capabilities, saying that the North's development of a nuclear missile capable of striking the U.S. "won't happen," though he didn't elaborate how he would stop it.
Last week, officials said that the South and the U.S. have picked up indications that the North has placed two ICBMs on mobile launchers for apparent test-firing, an indication that the threatened test could come earlier than expected.
Choe claimed the U.S. has posed threats to the North, riling against the annual U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises that the communist nation has long denounced as a rehearsal for invasion of the country.
"Imagine if our troops went to Canada and Mexico to carry out a nuclear exercise aimed at invading the U.S. What kind of response would you expect from the American people?" Choe said. "As long as the U.S. conducts these joint military exercises we will increase our nuclear deterrent forces and our preemptive strike forces."
The North's diplomat also denounced the White House's plan to build a state-of-the-art missile defense system against North Korean missile threats.
"It's a provocation. If the U.S. wants to develop the system, it should not use our country as an issue or an excuse. The U.S. is intentionally aggravating the tensions on the Korean peninsula in order to realize its ambition of dominating Asia," he said.
Choe said the North's leader is willing to improve relations with Washington if "the U.S. becomes friendlier to us."
During the campaign, Trump said he is willing to hold direct nuclear negotiations with the North's leader while eating "hamburgers."
Choe said the North "will wait and see the difference between his campaign rhetoric and his policy as president."
"We're not worried who is president, but whoever is president should recognize that North Korea is a nuclear power and a military giant. We hope the new president will recognize that position and will drop America's hostile policy towards our country. He would be well advised to secure a new way of thinking," Choe said.
Choe also said sanctions can't force the North to give up its nuclear program. (Yonhap)