TheCable

North Korea has said it will never stop its nuclear and missile tests as long as the US continues its “acts of aggression”.

Sok Chol Won, director of North Korea’s Institute of Human Rights at the Academy of Social Sciences, made this known to CNN on Wednesday.

Although he failed to confirm when the country’s sixth nuclear test would take place but said it wouldn’t be influenced by outside events.

“The nuclear test is an important part of our continued efforts to strengthen our nuclear forces,” he said.

“As long as America continues its hostile acts of aggression, we will never stop nuclear and missile tests.”

Sok said the major artillery drill conducted on Tuesday, the 85th anniversary of North Korea’s army, was a warning to the US President Donald Trump.

“This exercise is a direct response to acts of aggression by the United States,” he said.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, is moving large amounts of military hardware to the region.

The USS Vinson aircraft carrier is currently on its way to the Korean peninsula, while a nuclear-powered submarine, USS Michigan, arrived in a South Korean port on Tuesday.

The THAAD anti-missile system designed to reduce, if not thwart, the threat of North Korea’s missiles will be operational “in the coming days”.