North Korea fires missile in direction of Japan, says report
TOKYO: North Korea has taken another step toward achieving its stated goal of being able to send a nuclear weapon to the United States mainland, apparently firing another ballistic missile late Friday night. However, it was not immediately clear whether the missile was an intercontinental one capable of reaching the continental United States. North Korea appeared to launch the missile just after 11 pm local time, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said. South Korean President Moon Jae-in convened an emergency national security meeting.
The missile is believed to have flown for 45 minutes before landing in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, according Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Suga. Japan’s chief cabinet secretary says the launch is a clear breach of UN resolutions and declared Japan absolutely cannot tolerate North Korea’s repeated provocations.
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe confirmed the launch and is now convening an emergency meeting of officials to address the situation. The Pentagon has also confirmed that it has detected what it assesses was a ballistic missile launch from North Korea.
North Korea is notorious for marking key events in its history with missile launches or similar acts of aggression. Japanese authorities also reported detecting the launch, with the missile appearing to land within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, the public broadcaster NHK said.
“I can confirm that we detected a launch of a ballistic missile from North Korea. We are assessing and will have more information soon,” Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Friday. The latenight launch was unusual. North Korea almost always launches missiles soon after dawn.
Still, a launch had been anticipated. Not only has North Korean leader Kim Jong Un repeatedly said he wants a nuclear-tipped missile that can reach the United States, but U.S. intelligence agencies in recent days had spotted preparations for another test.
The test comes barely three weeks after North Korea fired its first missile technically capable of reaching the United States, launched as July 4 dawned in Asia.
That missile, which North Korea called the Hwasong-14 (or Mars14), was fired from Panghyon, a northwestern part of the country not far from the border with China, and flew to an altitude of 1,741 miles.