North Korea plans to roll out hundreds of long-range missiles a day before the start of the Winter Olympics in South Korea — to “scare the hell out of the Americans,” according to a report.
The saber-rattling parade on Feb. 8 is expected to include intercontinental Hwasong-15 missiles, which the hermit kingdom first test-fired in November, CNN reported, citing two sources with deep knowledge of the country’s plans.
They also didn’t rule out a missile test “in the near future” to send a powerful message to US forces deployed across the region.
The news comes after President Trump delivered his first State of the Union speech, during which he assailed North Korean despot Kim Jong Un’s “reckless pursuit” of nuclear weapons that could threaten the US mainland.
Trump cited personal stories of victims of the rogue regime, inviting as guests North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho and the parents of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who died after returning from the country, where he spent 17 months in captivity.
On Monday, North Korea said it called off a joint cultural performance that had been planned for before the Olympics in response to unflattering media coverage by the South.
The South Korean Unification Ministry said the country pulled out because “South Korean media continue to insult North Korea’s genuine measures regarding the PyeongChang Olympics and take issues with its domestic festival.”
The sources who spoke to CNN said other events could be canceled.
Chad O’Carroll, managing director of the Korea Risk Group in Seoul, told the network that the planned military parade could undermine the US support of dialogue between the two Koreas.
“The ongoing US support for inter-Korean rapprochement already appears to be showing cracks and will likely be seriously tested in the event of a major DPRK ICBM parade on the eve of the Olympics,” he said.
Foreign media will not be permitted to cover the parade, the sources said.
Meanwhile, sources told CNN that the White House decided not to nominate Victor Cha as US ambassador to South Korea because he believes a “bloody nose” strike again Pyongyang would carry a huge risk to Americans.