S. KOREA, U.S. TO REVISE MISSILE TREATY

South wants to raise missile cap to boost defences against North

SEOUL

UNITED States President Donald Trump agreed with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to revise a joint treaty capping the development of the South’s ballistic missiles, Moon’s office said yesterday, amid a standoff over North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests.

Trump also gave “conceptual” approval to the purchase by the South of billions of dollars of US military hardware, the White House said.

The South wants to raise the missile cap to boost its defences against the reclusive North, which is pursuing missile and nuclear weapons programmes in defiance of international warnings and United Nations sanctions.

“The two leaders agreed to the principle of revising the missile guideline to a level desired by South Korea, sharing the view that it was necessary to strengthen South Korea’s defence capabilities in response to North Korea’s provocations and threats,” South Korea’s presidential Blue House said.

Impoverished North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and its main ally, the US.

North Korea sharply raised regional tensions this week with the launch of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific. Reuters A biker dressed as Santa Claus riding with about 1,500 Harley Davidson motorbike enthusiasts during a Harley Days parade in Prague, Czech Republic, yesterday.