The commitment of the United States and South Korea to the missile defense system THAAD is pushing the Korean Peninsula to the "brink of nuclear war," said North Korea on Friday in a report on its official Korea Central News Agency. The statement associated with the National peace Committee of Korea came just a day after the U.S. Secretary of defense James Mattis arrived in South Korea and promised to deploy the system Terminal High Altitude Area Defense to protect the United States and South Korea. But in a statement, the KCNA said that THAAD is part of the offensive strategy between Seoul and Washington, if they "developed a plan for a preemptive attack on the North ... pushing the situation on the Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war." Mattis, after arrival at the air base "Osan" outside Seoul on Thursday, said that "provocative behavior" Pyongyang made a THAAD system is a necessity. But Mattis's visit to South Korea was relatively quiet from the regime of Kim Jong-UN, who had not experienced a ballistic missile from October 20, 2016. However, Mattis, speaking at a press conference in Seoul on Friday with the Minister of defense of South Korea Han Min Koo, gave a warning to North Korea. "North Korea continues to launch missiles, to develop its nuclear program and engage in threatening rhetoric," Mattis said. "Any attack on the United States or our allies will be stopped and any use of nuclear weapons would return," said the Minister of defense. "We also intend to expand trilateral cooperation centres with Japan, where the mutual protection of our Nations will be better in working together," Mattis said.