N. Korean missile lands near Japan
Latest test, its furthest yet, a ‘real threat’
North Korea carried out its second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in a month Friday, firing a projectile into the sea off Japan and causing alarm in the U.S. and Asia.
The Pentagon confirmed that the missile, which flew for 45 minutes, travelling an estimated 900 kilometres, was an ICBM. It flew for six minutes longer than the previous one, on July 4.
Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, has called a meeting of the national security council to assess the launch.
“I have received the first report that North Korea again launched a missile and it possibly landed inside the exclusive economic zone,” said Abe.
He called the launch “a serious and real threat,” while Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s government spokesman, said: “North Korea’s repeated provocative acts absolutely cannot be accepted.”
The Pentagon, which earlier this week warned that North Korea could have a nuclear-enabled ICBM as early as next year, said it detected the launch almost immediately.
On Saturday, the U.S. will carry out another drill in Alaska, aimed at testing the country’s ability to shoot down any incoming projectiles. If confirmed, Friday’s launch would be the 14th to be conducted by North Korea in 2017, and the latest act of defiance from Pyongyang against a UN ban.
Pyongyang tested an ICBM on July 4 — a missile that experts believe could reach Alaska and be a gamechanger in the North’s longheld aspirations to reach the continental United States.
Mazie Hirono, a Democrat senator for Hawaii who sits on the armed services committee, said that her community — among the closest geographically to North Korea — was worried.
“We continue to be concerned because we know that Kim Jong-un will continue to do these launches,” she said.
“We did just pass in the Senate a sanctions bill relating to Russia, North Korea and Iran. But there are more things we can do.”
She said she agreed with Jim Mattis, the defence secretary, that there would be a human catastrophe “if we engage on military terms.”
“But I also agree with General Joseph Dunford that we can’t take options off the table,” she said.
She called for the Trump administration to continue to pressure China to do more. “Part of it has to be diplomatic dialogue — that’s the dance in this part of the world. We can’t just tell them what to do. It must be done in conjunction with further economic sanctions.”