The United States is ready to defend itself and its allies against North Korean nuclear weapons, outgoing Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Sunday on NBC’s «Meet the Press. »
«We’ve deployed missile defenses in South Korea, Japan, Guam and, of course, we have 28,500 troops there today,» he said. «North Korea’s slogan is, ‘fight tonight.’ We’re ready to defend the Korean peninsula and defend our friends and interests there. »
Carter said the U. S. would shoot down an intermediate range ballistic missile if it threatened the U.
The United States is ready to defend itself and its allies against North Korean nuclear weapons, outgoing Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Sunday on NBC’s «Meet the Press. » 
