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March 29, 2013

North Korea Orders Rocket Unit on Standby as U.S. Denies Provocation 
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Tensions are continuing to mount between the United States and North
Korea. The North Korean regime says it has ordered its rocket units on
standby for an attack on regional U.S. military bases after the United
States flew nuclear-capable stealth bombers over South Korea. It was the
latest threat by North Korea in the standoff over U.S.-South Korean
military drills and U.S.-backed Security Council sanctions in response
to North Korea's recent nuclear test. On Thursday, Defense Secretary
Chuck Hagel rejected assertions the South Korea flights are a
provocation.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel: "We have security issues here that we
have to protect, and commitments and our security interests. So, no, I
don't think we're doing anything extraordinary or provocative or out of
the — out of the orbit of what nations do to protect their own
interests and assure, as the general said, especially not only to our
South Korean ally, but to our other allies in that region, that we must
make clear that these provocations by the North are taken by us very
seriously and we'll respond to that."

 

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