N Korea ‘attempts to launch missile but fails’: USPACOM
NK launched a missile on Sunday but it blew up almost immediately after its launch, the US military said, a day after Pyongyang warned Washington that it is “prepared to respond to an all-out war with an allout war”.
The attempted launch occurred a day after the regime of Kim Jong Un showed off a bevy of new missiles and launchers at a large-scale military parade.”The missile blew up almost immediately. The type of missile is still being assessed,” the US Pacific Command (USPACOM) said in a statement.
The US Pacific Command detected and tracked what it assessed was a North Korean missile, the statement said. “The launch of the ballistic missile occurred near Sinpo,” US Pacific Command spokesman CDR Dave Benham said. Sinpo, a port city in eastern North Korea, was also the site of a ballistic missile test earlier this month in which the projectile fell into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. “USPACOM is fully committed to working closely with its allies in the Republic of Korea and in Japan to maintain security,” Benham said. Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said that Prez Donald Trump and his military team are aware of the missile launch.
“The President and his military team are aware of North Korea’s most recent unsuccessful missile launch. The President has no further comment,” said Mattis. South Korean and US intelligence officials are trying to determine what type of missile was used on Sunday, but it was described as a land-based missile. The launch came just hours before Mike Pence, the US vice president, arrived in Seoul for talks with the South Korean government over how to deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear ambition. North Korean state media has made no comment on the launch.
Choe Ryong Hae, who is believed to be the secondmost powerful official in North Korea, said in a speech on Saturday that the country is ready to stand up to any threat posed by the US. He criticised the new US administration under President Donald Trump for “creating a war situation” on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching strategic military assets to the region. “We will respond to an all-out war with an allout war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack,” Choe said.