Washington believes military strike on Syria will deter North Korea

A senior official in the US Department of Defence has predicted that a strong response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons will help to deter North Korea from using its own “massive arsenal” of the banned munitions.

During talks with Chinese defence officials, James N. Miller stressed the importance of supporting international norms which prohibit the use of chemical weapons.

Miller told reporters that he had focused on North Korea’s huge arsenal of chemical weapons, saying he did not want to live in a world where North Korea feels the threshold for using such weapons has been lowered.