NATO head visits inter-Korean border amid tension

The chief of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) visited the heavily fortified inter-Korean border Saturday amid heightened cross-border tensions triggered by North Korea's missile and nuclear programs.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen's visit to the neutral truce village of Panmunjom comes as North Korea is reportedly moving to launch another missile that could escalate the already high tension on the divided Korean Peninsula, the Cold War's last frontier.

According to experts in Seoul, the missile North Korea is ready to fire is estimated to have a range of up to 4,000 kilometers, long enough to cover all of South Korea and Japan and reach as far as the U.S. territory of Guam. The Pentagon has beefed up its anti-missile defense system on the Pacific island.

Rasmussen's trip to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is the first by a NATO chief since the organization was launched in 1949.

His visit, though symbolic, is seen as a strong show of support for South Korea

During his three-day stay in South Korea, Rasmussen met with President Park Geun-hye, Foreign Minister Yoon Byung-se and Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin to discuss a wide range of regional and global security issues, according to Seoul officials.

(Yonhap News)