North Korea warns of nuclear race, opposes THAAD deployment

SEOUL, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- North Korea again voiced its opposition to the deployment of THAAD on the peninsula.

Pyongyang's state-controlled KCNA issued a message from the state's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland that warned against the placement of the U.S. anti-missile defense system in South Korea.

North Korea said in the statement the decision would turn the Korean peninsula into a nuclear arms race arena, South Korean news service News 1 reported.

"If the monster known as THAAD comes to coil itself in the South's territory, [the land] will transform itself into a nuclear arms race arena that brings in neighboring powers," the statement read.

THAAD deployment would bring about the unexpected launches of nuclear weapons without "definite national origin" and bring about the "worst kind of fear and anxiety that tightens the chest," according to KCNA.

The deployment of the anti-missile defense system is part of the United States' "hegemony strategy" and would cause a "new arms race," North Korea warned.

Pyongyang also slammed South Korean President Park Geun-hye for "pro-U.S. collaborationist" activities. Her policies are "absolutely unacceptable," North Korea said in its statement.

"The real enemy of our nuclear power is the threat of nuclear war, and the target of our state-of-the-art methods is the highest power hopping around madly with the United States...they are not one of our innocent fellow countrymen."

Opinion is divided on the deployment of the THAAD battery in South Korea.

Residents of the designated THAAD location have consistently expressed opposition to its deployment, but other South Koreans have shown support for THAAD at public rallies in the country.