Kim Jong-un laughs maniacally as he watches missile test ‘training for attack on US bases in Japan’ – as Americans deploy THAAD missile defence system to South Korea

NORTH Korea has announced its missile tests yesterday were aimed at training for attacks on US bases in Japan – as the US sent a missile defence system to South Korea.

Kim Jong-un caused outrage among world leaders when he tested ballistic missiles in defiance of the international community over the weekend.

The chubby dictator was pictured grinning and laughing maniacally as he watched the weapons test through a pair of binoculars.

He clapped his hands gleefully as four missiles were fired – with three landing provocatively close to Japan, in waters that are part of its exclusive economic zone.

North Korea’s state-run news agency KCNA said the military units involved in the exercise were “tasked to strike the bases of the US imperialist aggressor forces in Japan”.

In separate phone calls, Donald Trump reaffirmed Washington's "ironclad commitment" to Japan and South Korea after the provocative exercise.

A further statement from the White House warned Pyongyang of "very dire consequences" for its actions.

And the US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on Twitter the world "won't allow" North Korea to continue on its "destructive path".

The US military has now begun deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile defence system to South Korea, as tensions continue to rise in the region.

The first elements of the missile shield arrived on Monday, aimed at protecting against the growing missile threat from the North, US military chiefs said.

The THAAD deployment has infuriated China – North Korea's key ally and crucial to efforts to persuade it to change its ways.

China claims the system is a “clear, present and substantive threat to China's security interests”.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang today told a briefing that China "firmly opposes" the deployment.

Geng said China will "definitely be taking necessary measures to safeguard our own security interest".

He added that "all consequences" resulting from that will be borne by the US and South Korea.

But Beijing has also become increasingly frustrated with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile activities – last month suspending coal imports from its ally until the end of the year.

South Korea's acting president Hwang Kyo-Ahn said Kim’s latest missile launch was intended to "test the Trump administration's North Korea policy and the South Korea-US alliance".

It could also have been an attempt to distract attention from the murder of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last month, he added.

South Korea has blamed Pyongyang for the killing of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother by two women using VX nerve agent last month.

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