Pence evades sabotage query on fizzled missile

New York, April 20: United States vice-president Mike Pence avoided a direct answer when asked if the US used any cyber or electronic technology to sabotage Sunday’s North Korean missile test.

While the nuclear test has yet to happen, Mr Pence pushed the theme of tough talk after Sunday’s failed missile launch. “I really can’t comment on the electronic and technical capabilities of our military,” Mr Pence told CNN aboard the USS Ronald Reagan in Japan.

“What I can say is that it failed. It was one more provocation by a regime that continues to flout the use of — and it’s got to come to an end.”

While Pence would neither confirm nor deny that the US military has the technology to sabotage a North Korean missile launch, cyber experts told CNN that the US has the capability and could execute the action in several different ways.

The Trump administration has said that it was reviewing all options on North Korea, including those involving military action, but defence secretary James Mattis was also underscoring the need for a non-military solution.

“You’re aware that the leader of North Korea again recklessly tried to provoke something by launching a missile,” he recently told reporters.

“It was not an intercontinental ballistic missile, it failed on launch, and it shows why we’re working so closely right now with the Chinese.”

Speculation that the US military may have used cyber capabilities to thwart the North Korean missile test comes at a time of escalating rhetoric between the two nations.

I can’t comment on the electronic and technical capabilities of our military

Mike Pence, United States vice-president