North Korea announced late on Thursday the deployment site for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system could be struck with a nuclear weapon should tensions in the region continue to escalate.

On the following morning the South Korean government refuted the North’s statement, calling it “aimed at dividing the South Korean public.”

“In the future, if large powers accidentally clash in northeast Asian region, there can be no guarantee that a nuclear weapon – coming from an unknown nationality – aimed at the THAAD system would not be dropped,” the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country of the DPRK (CPRC) read.

“All