U.S. deploys hazardous chemical unit in South; intercepts communiqué warning of missile launch

April 4, 2012 – NORTH KOREA – The United States has deployed a battalion equipped to deal with nuclear, biological and chemical attacks in South Korea after North Korea threatened to attack the US with ‘nuclear weapons.’ Reports say about 250 soldiers from the US Army 23rd chemical battalion have returned to South Korea. The troops are stationed at Camp Stanley in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul. Meanwhile, North Korea’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) has said that the deployment is a revelation of the criminal attempt of the United States to impose nuclear disasters on the Korean nation. “During the Korean War, the US indiscriminately used germ and chemical weapons against the Korean people, stunning the world,” the CPRK stated on Wednesday. “The US now seeks to make such crimes against humanity repeat.” War of words escalated between Washington and Pyongyang after the participation of nuclear-capable US B-52s and B-2 stealth bombers in the United States’ joint military drills with South Korea. The North Korean Army said earlier on Thursday that it received final approval for a nuclear attack on the United States in response to Washington’s threats. The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said in a statement that the threats by the US would be “smashed by… cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means.” The Pentagon said it would deploy an advanced anti-missile system to the Pacific island of Guam. The deployment of the missile system is a “precautionary move to strengthen our regional defense posture against the North Korean regional ballistic missile threat,” the Pentagon stated. The anti-missile system includes a truck-mounted launcher, a complement of interceptor missiles, an AN/TPY- 2 tracking radar and an integrated fire control system. –Press TV

Intercepted communiqué: North Korea, which unleashed another round of scathing rhetoric accusing the United States of pushing the region to the “brink of war,” could be planning a missile launch soon, a U.S. official said Thursday. Communications intercepts in recent days indicated that Pyongyang could be planning to launch a mobile ballistic missile in the coming days or weeks, the official said. It’s unknown whether it would be a test or a strike. The news emerged as South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin told a parliamentary committee in Seoul that the North has moved a medium-range missile to its east coast for an imminent test firing or military drill. The missile doesn’t appear to be aimed at the U.S. mainland, Kim said, according to the semi-official South Korean news agency Yonhap. –CNN