North Korea test-fires missile, US calls it failure

NORTH KOREA test-fired a ballistic missile on Saturday shortly after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that failure to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes could lead to “catastrophic consequences”.

US and South Korean officials said the test, from an area north of the North Korean capital, appeared to have failed, in what would be the North’s fourth straight unsuccessful missile test since March.

The test came as the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group arrived in waters near the Korean peninsula, where it began exercises with the South Korean navy Saturday, at least 12 hours after the failed launch, a South Korean navy official said.

Tillerson, in a UN Security Council meeting on North Korea Friday, repeated the Trump administration’s position that all options were on the table if Pyongyang persisted with its nuclear and missile development.

“The threat of a nuclear attack on Seoul, or Tokyo, is real, and it’s only a matter of time before North Korea develops the capability to strike the US mainland,” Tillerson said. “Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences.”

US President Donald Trump said the launch was an affront to China, the North’s sole main ally.

“North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its highly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today. Bad!,” Trump said in a post on Twitter.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the UN meeting it was not only up to China to solve the North Korean problem. In a commentary on Saturday, China’s official Xinhua news agency said both North Korea and the US needed to tread cautiously.

“If both sides fail to make such necessary concessions, then not only will the two countries, but the whole region and the whole world end up paying a heavy price for a possible confrontation.”

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe condemned the test as a threat to the international order. REUTERS