THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The US was last night preparing to send advanced missile defences to its Pacific territory, as North Korea further ratcheted up its bellicose rhetoric by approving "merciless" nuclear strikes on America.
Pledging a "measured" response to Pyongyang's aggression, Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretary, deployed anti-missile systems to Guam, the tiny western Pacific island and American military outpost.
"Some of the actions they've taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger," Mr Hagel said of North Korea, in remarks delivered at the National Defense University in Washington.
The $800m Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, which was slated to be installed in 2015, will now be sent within weeks, following warnings that Guam, Hawaii or the US west coast could be hit.
The land-based system, which comprises interceptor missiles, a truck-based launcher and radar tracking equipment, is capable of shooting down short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
It will join two US guided-missile destroyers that have already taken position in the region to assist with defence against potential strikes ordered by Pyongyang. » | Jon Swaine in Washington and Malcolm Moore in Beijing | Wednesday, April 03, 2013
