US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that the United States would not necessarily shoot down a North Korean missile, if it was not threatening.

    He said the US military would want to gather intelligence from the missile's flight instead of intercepting it. "If it's not threatening, we won't necessarily do so. Because it may be more to our advantage to, first of all, save our interceptor inventory, and, second, to gather intelligence from the flight," he said, according to the (BBC).

    Carter's remarks follow President-elect Donald Trump's Twitter comments on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

    Trump had said the North's development of a nuclear missile that could reach the US "won't happen". However, he did not elaborate how he would stop such plans.

    On Sunday, North Korean state news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying that a missile "will be launched anytime and anywhere" as determined by Pyongyang, despite efforts by the US to contain them. North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests over the last year - five in total, raising fears that it has made significant nuclear advances.

Source: QNA