Missile test a threat to US
SEOUL North Korea fired a missile yesterday that experts said was capable of hitting Los Angeles and other United States cities, and the US and South Korea responded by staging a joint missile exercise.
North Korea confirmed the launch, with its official news agency saying it was a ‘‘stern warning’’ for the US.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said the missile showed that all of the US was within striking distance, but US authorities characterised that as an exaggeration.
The administration of US President Donald Trump, which has branded North Korea the ‘‘most urgent and dangerous threat to peace’’, condemned the launch as reckless.
‘‘By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy and deprive its people,’’ Trump said. ‘‘The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region.’’
South Korean Defence Minister Song Young-moo said Seoul would prepare independent measures to curb the nuclear threat from the North.
The unusual late-night launch added to the exasperation in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo over Pyongyang’s continuing development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
The North Korean military had already raised alarms early this month with its first ICBM launch.
The top US military official, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, and Admiral Harry Harris, commander of US Pacific Command, spoke by phone with the top South Korean military official, General Lee Sun-jin, to discuss military response options to the launch.
The Trump administration has said that all options are on the table, including military ones, but it has also made clear that diplomacy and sanctions are its preferred course.
Following a meeting of South Korea’s National Security Council, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he wanted the United Nations Security Council to discuss new and stronger sanctions against the North, the presidential Blue House said.
Later, the US and South Korea conducted a live-fire ballistic missile exercise in a display of firepower in response to the missile launch, the US military said. The two allies staged a similar exercise after the North Korean test earlier this month.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missile flew for about 45 minutes before apparently landing in the waters of Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Japanese broadcaster NHK, citing a military official, said the missile reached an alti- GETTY IMAGES tude of more than 3000 kilometres.
The South Korean military said the missile was believed to be an ICBM, flying more than 1000km and reaching an altitude of 3700km. In Washington, the Pentagon also said it had assessed that the missile was an ICBM.
US officials said the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s spy agency, had determined that North Korea would be able to field a reliable nuclear-capable ICBM by next year, earlier than previously thought. Reuters