indo–asian news service
Pyongyang, July 29: North Korea has confirmed that it has “successfully” test-fired a second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and described it as a “stern warning” to the US, the media reported Saturday.
A combination of US, South Korean and Japanese analyses of Friday’s launch from Mupyong-ni, near North Korea’s border with China, showed the missile flew about 47 minutes, going 3,700 km high and for a distance of 1,000 km before falling into the Sea of Japan, reports CNN.
If the missile were fired on a flatter, standard trajectory, it would have major US cities like Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago well within its range, with possibly the ability to reach as far as New York and Boston.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday that the latest ICBM is more advanced than one launched earlier this month based on the range it travelled. Experts had said that test showed Pyongyang had the ability to hit Alaska. A statement from Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency Saturday said in a statement that the latest missile launch was a Hwasong-14, the same missile tested earlier in the month. Friday’s test was designed to show the Hwasong-14’s maximum range with a “large-sized heavy nuclear warhead”, the statement said. It said Washington should regard the launch as a “grave warning”.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in in an emergency meeting Saturday called for a “stern response” and warned that the latest test could bring about a fundamental change in the security landscape of the region.
He also asked his administration to study the possibility of imposing “strong and effective measures” and unilateral sanctions on North Korea “if necessary”. Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang Saturday asked North Korea to respect the resolutions of the UN Security Council and refrain from any actions that could escalate tensions in the region, reports Xinhua news agency.
Pyongyang has carried out 12 missile tests since February and conducted its first-ever test of an ICBM July 4 — which it claims could reach “anywhere in the world”, CNN reported. Less than six years into his reign, Kim Jong-un has tested more missiles than his father and grandfather combined, according to military experts.
ICBM test termed ’reckless action’
Washington: The intercontinental ballistic The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test carried out by North Korea is a reckless and dangerous action by its authoritarian regime, says the US President Donald Trump, asserting that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community. North Korea launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang. “North Korea’s test launch Saturday of another inter-continental ballistic missile—the second such test in less than a month—is only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime,” Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action. The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime’s claim that these tests—and these weapons—ensure North Korea’s security, he said.
