WORLD ‘ We will take care of it’
SARAH BLAKE IN NEW YORK DONALD Trump vowed “we will take care of it” after a defiant North Korea launched its most successful intercontinental ballistic missile test.
The rogue nation is now capable of delivering a nuclear strike to almost anywhere in the world, according to defence experts who yesterday warned of a dramatic escalation of the threat posed by its madman dictator Kim Jong- un.
In its first missile test after two months of tightening sanctions from nations including Australia, the US and China, Pyongyang fired the ICBM on a steep trajectory at 3am local time yesterday.
It flew 4500km into space – 10 times the distance of the orbiting International Space Station – before crashing into the sea 960km away in the Sea of Japan, 210km off the Japanese coast.
Analysts from the Union of Concerned Scientists said the Hwasong- 15 missile test significantly boosted North Korea’s arsenal, potentially giving Kim Jong- un access to a fully functional ICBM capable of travelling more than 13,000km.
This would put the entire US and most of the world within its reach and comes sooner than experts had predicted.
“This is significantly longer than North Korea’s previous long- range tests, which flew on lofted trajectories for 37 minutes ( July 4) and 47 minutes ( July 28),” wrote senior USC scientist David Wright, de- scribing it as “muscle flexing”. “Such a missile would have more than enough range to reach Washington DC, and in fact any part of the continental United States.”
“Mar a Lago, here we come,” said nuclear expert Jeffrey Lewis from California’s Middlebury Institute in a tweet.
The test was North Korea’s 20th of a long- range nuclear rocket this year and came after a two- month hiatus during which the regime was hit by widespread sanctions and diplomatic pressure.
Just last week President Trump relisted the country as a state sponsor of terrorism.
North Korea has repeatedly vowed it will destroy the US and its allies, but yesterday’s test gives new weight to its vitriol.
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the missile “went higher, frankly, than any previous shot they’ve taken”.
“It’s a research and development effort on their part to continue building ballistic missiles that could threaten everywhere in the world, basically,” he said.
Yesterday, Mr Trump was more circumspect, saying: “We will take care of it. It is a situation that we will handle.”
Mr Trump would not elaborate, but General Mattis later released a statement reiterating “diplomatic options remain viable and open, for now”.
Any military action against Pyongyang could start a war with the potential to cost as many as 20,000 lives a day, according to recent modelling by the US Defence Department.