Kim could strike London before the US, says Fallon
BRITAIN is at risk from North Korea’s long-range nuclear missile programme, the Defence Secretary has warned.
Sir Michael Fallon said British cities were closer to Kim Jong-un’s missiles than some American targets and he suggested it was only a matter of time before the UK was in range.
Any military confrontation between America and North Korea had to be avoided “at all costs”, he said, but warned that the chance of an accidental clash was “extremely great”.
Sir Michael spoke as Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, said the Pyongyang regime now posed a “global threat”.
Donald Trump has said that attempts by Pyongyang to intimidate or threaten America will be met with “fire and fury”.
Sir Michael told the BBC: “The US is fully entitled to defend its own territory, to defend its bases and to look after its people, but this involves us, London is closer to North Korea and its missiles than Los Angeles.”
Asked if a North Korean missile could now could hit London, he said: “Not yet, but they are clearly accelerating their missile programme.
“The range is getting longer and longer and we have to get this programme halted because the dangers now of miscalculation, of some accident triggering a response are extremely great.”
Both Britain and America have been dismayed by recent advances in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes. The regime has test launched a series of long-range missiles and earlier this month detonated its biggest ever hydrogen bomb.