N. Korea fires missile that could reach Alaska
Russia says missile mid-range, North claims it’s an ICBM
Seoul, July 4: North Korea declared on Tuesday it had successfully tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile — a watershed moment in its push to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the mainland United States.
US experts said the device could reach Alaska.
The North’s possession of a working ICBM — something that US President Donald Trump has vowed “won’t happen” — would force a fundamental recalculation of the strategic threat posed by the isolated, impoverished state.
The “landmark” test of a Hwasong-14 missile was overseen by leader Kim Jong-Un, an emotional female announcer said on state Korean Central Television.
The broadcaster showed his handwritten order to carry out the launch, and pictures of him grinning in celebration, clenching his fist.
The rocket was “a very powerful ICBM that can strike any place in the world”, the announcer said, and “a major breakthrough in the history of our republic”.
In a statement the North’s Academy of Defence Science, which developed the missile, said it reached an altitude of 2,802 km and flew 933 km, calling it the “final gate to rounding off the state nuclear force”.
US Pacific Command confirmed the test and said it was a landbased, intermediate range missile that flew for 37 minutes before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, adding the launch did not pose a threat to North America.
However, Moscow’s defence ministry called it mediumrange in a statement to Russian news agencies.
But Tokyo — in whose exclusive economic zone it came down — estimated its maximum altitude to have “greatly exceeded” 2,500 km.
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-In, who backs both engagement with the North to bring it to the negotiating table and sanctions, warned the North against crossing a “red line”. —
Hard to believe that South Korea ... and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!
— DONALD TRUMP, US President