The U.S. has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test planned for next week amid mounting tensions with North Korea, a senior defense official has said.
The official told Associated Press that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to put off the long-planned Minuteman 3 test, due to take place at an Air Force base in California, until sometime next month because of concerns the launch could be misinterpreted and exacerbate the Korean crisis.
The test was not connected to the ongoing annual military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea in the region which have angered North Korea.
Tensions: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (left) has postponed an intercontinental ballistic missile test next week. Korean leader Kim Jong Un (right) has ratcheted up tensions with the West in the past week
Work: North Korean soldiers work beside their military fences near the demilitarized zone separating the North from South Korea, in this picture taken from an observation post of the South
Patrol: South Korean soldiers patrol along the military fences near the demilitarized zone
Hagel made the decision Friday, the official said yesterday.
Meanwhile, South Korea's top military officer has put off a visit to Washington because of escalating tensions with North Korea that have also compelled more than a dozen South Korean companies to halt operations at a joint factory complex in the North, officials have said today.
The tensions in the region have led South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jung Seung-jo to cancel his plan to meet with U.S. counterpart, General Martin Dempsey, in Washington on April 16 for regular talks.
The allies have agreed to reschedule the meeting because Jung couldn't be away from South Korea for several days at a time when North Korea is intensifying its rhetoric, said a South Korean Joint Chiefs spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office policy.
And with pressure growing on Beijing to get North Korea to step back from its war-like footing, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Sunday that no one country should be allowed to upset world peace and added China would work to reduce tensions over regional hotspots.
In a speech to a regional business forum with political leaders from Australia to Zaire present, Xi did not offer any concrete plans for how to deal with China's neighbor, North Korea, which has elevated regional tensions through war-like rhetoric and missile deployments in recent weeks.
Missiles: The launch has been put off until next month amid fears it could increase tensions in Korea (file pictures)
Missile threat: A North Korean military vehicle carries a missile through Pyongyang. The state has repeatedly threatened to attack the U.S. and South Korea
Xi did not offer concessions to other neighbors locked in fraught disputes with Beijing over outlying islands - Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam.
It isn't clear whether Xi was taking a swipe at North Korea or at the United States, a frequent target of Chinese criticism, when he criticized unilateral acts that threaten stability.
'The international community should advocate the vision of comprehensive security and co-operative security, so as to turn the global village into a big stage for common development rather than an arena where gladiators fight each other.
Speech: Chinese President Xi Jinping (pictured last month) has said no one country should be allowed to upset world peace and added China would work to reduce tensions over regional hotspots
'And no one should be allowed to throw the region, or even the whole world, into chaos for selfish gains,' Xi said at the Boao Forum for Asia, a China-sponsored talk shop for the global elite.
The North's military warned this week that it was authorized to attack the U.S. using 'smaller, lighter and diversified' nuclear weapons.
South Korean officials say North Korea has moved at least one missile with 'considerable range' to its east coast - possibly the untested Musudan missile, believed to have a range of 1,800 miles.
U.S. officials have said the move suggests a North Korean launch could be imminent. But while Washington is taking the North Korean threats seriously, U.S. leaders say they have seen no visible signs that the North is preparing for a large-scale attack.
North Korea held its latest nuclear test in February, and in December it launched a long-range rocket that potentially could hit the continental U.S. Increasing tensions is the uncertainty around the intentions of the country's new young leader, Kim Jong Un.
North Korea has been angered by increasing sanctions and the U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which have included a broad show of force ranging from stealthy B-2 bombers and F-22 fighters to a wide array of ballistic missile defense-capable warships. The exercises are scheduled to continue through the end of the month.
This week, the U.S. said two of the Navy's missile-defense ships were moved closer to the Korean peninsula, and a land-based system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month. The Pentagon last month announced longer-term plans to strengthen its U.S.-based missile defenses.
The defense official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the Minuteman 3 test delay and requested anonymity, said U.S. policy continues to support the building and testing of its nuclear deterrent capabilities. The official said the launch was not put off because of any technical problems.
The globe-circling intercontinental ballistic missiles make up one of the three legs of America's nuclear arsenal. About 450 Minuteman 3 missiles are based in underground silos in the U.S. The other two legs of the nuclear arsenal are submarine-launched ballistic missiles and weapons launched from big bombers, such as the B-52 and the stealthy B-2.
The traditional rationale for the 'nuclear triad' of weaponry is that it is essential to surviving any nuclear exchange.