US delays missile test to cool N. Korea tensions

The US has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test to avoid stoking tensions with North Korea, as fears escalated that weeks of angry rhetoric could erupt into conflict on the Korean peninsula.

The Pentagon's disclosure that it would reschedule the intercontinental missile test due in California next week comes as the international community grows increasingly nervous that the situation could spiral out of control.

A US defence official said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel postponed the Minuteman 3 test at Vandenberg Air Force Base until next month due to concerns it "might be misconstrued by some as suggesting that we were intending to exacerbate the current crisis with North Korea".

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