US Delays Missile Test Over N. Korea Tensions

White House defends move as 'absolutely not' a retreat
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 7, 2013 2:23 PM CDT
US Delays Missile Test Over N. Korea Tensions
A Chimera target launch vehicle, which is a modified Minuteman booster vehicle, successfully launched late Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008, from the Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, Calif.    (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force, 2nd Lt. Raymond Geoffroy)

As tensions escalate with North Korea, the US has opted to delay a missile test at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, CNN reports. The long-planned test of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile was unrelated to North Korea, but delaying it is "prudent and wise" in light of North Korea's sabre-rattling, said a Pentagon official. Top White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer defended the move today on Fox News Sunday, saying the delay is "absolutely not" a retreat following Pyongyang's aggressive rhetoric, reports The Hill. "The onus is on North Korea to take the step back," said Pfeiffer. (More North Korea stories.)

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