N. Korean missile test fails
Pence en route to Seoul as North Korea ballistic test fizzles following parade
Pence heads to region as tensions mount and U.S. warships approach,
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA— North Korea launched a ballistic missile Sunday morning from near its submarine base in Sinpo on its east coast, but the launch was the latest in a series of failures just after liftoff, according to U.S. and South Korean military officials.
The timing was a deep embarrassment for the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, because the missile appeared to have been launched to show off his daring as a fleet of U.S. warships approached his country to deter provocations.
Cmdr. Dave Benham, a spokesperson for the U.S. Pacific Command, said the military had “detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean missile launch at 11:21 a.m. Hawaii time April 15.” The missile blew up almost immediately, and the type of missile involved was still being assessed, he said.
Over the past three years, a covert war over the missile program has broken out between North Korea and the United States. As the North’s skills grew, former president Barack Obama ordered a surge in strikes against the missile launches, the New York Times reported last month, including some using electronic warfare techniques.
It is unclear how successful the program has been, because it is almost impossible to tell whether any individual launch failed because of sabotage, faulty engineering or bad luck. But the North’s launch failure rate has been extraordinarily high since Obama accelerated the program.
In an unusually worded statement that left hanging the question of whether the U.S. played a role in the latest launch failure, U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said: “The president and his military team are aware of North Korea’s most recent unsuccessful missile launch. The president has no further comment.”
U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence, en route to Seoul, South Korea, for the start of a 10-day trip through Asia, was briefed aboard Air Force Two on the failed missile launch.
Pence was in contact with U.S. President Donald Trump about the launch, aides to the vice-president told reporters travelling with him.
After a two-month policy review, the Trump administration has settled on a policy toward North Korea that relies on “maximum pressure and engagement,” U.S. officials said Friday. The administration’s immediate emphasis, the officials said, will be on increasing pressure on the North with the help of China.
Pence will try to explain the policy in meetings with leaders in South Korea and Japan.
Hours before the unsuccessful test Saturday, three types of intercontinental ballistic missiles rolled through Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, in an annual parade as the country tried to demonstrate its military reach was expanding.
During the parade, Kim watched from a platform surrounded by military officers as long columns of goose-stepping soldiers marched through a large plaza, accompanied by tanks, missiles and rocket tubes.
Saturday was the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country’s founder, Kim Jong Un’s grandfather and the man the younger Kim tries to emulate, in looks and action. Kim Il Sung’s birthday, called the Day of the Sun, is the North’s most important holiday and a key moment for scoring propaganda points.
The U.S., China and other regional powers had feared that North Korea might mark the occasion by conducting its sixth nuclear test or by launching an intercontinental ballistic missile. But no seismic tremor emanated Saturday morning from the North’s nuclear test site.
To military analysts scrutinizing North Korea’s broadcast of the parade, the most noteworthy element seemed to be three types of longrange ballistic missiles. While the North has claimed it can strike the U.S. with a nuclear warhead, it has never flight-tested a ballistic missile capable of crossing the Pacific.