South Korea's defense minister announced that North Korean ballistic missiles are not targeting mainland US territory as the American showcase of power in the South provokes Pyongyang to resort to a last-ditch nuclear argument. The South's Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin refuted media reports that Pyongyang has moved its intermediate-range missiles to its east coast to strike the US mainland. The minister believes that the KN-08 missiles with claimed range of 10,000km might be getting ready for a military drill, but are not targeting the US. Once the news about Pyongyang moving its missiles became public, the US announced strengthening of missile defenses of its military bases in the region, including its stronghold on the Island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. Also, the US deployed F-22 stealth fighter jets to its air force base in South Korea. The exchange of threats between two antagonists on the Korean Peninsula continues, yet the essence of intimidation differs strikingly. Pyongyang makes one formidable gesture after another, threatening a full diplomatic rupture with the South, a ‘final' war with Seoul and even a nuclear strike on US military bases in the region. But North Korea's capabilities and reserves are limited and the US know them all too well, keeping a satellite eye on any suspicious activities daily.
