Nth Korea fires missile in latest test, says Seoul
North Korea yesterday fired a midrange ballistic missile in the latest weapons test for a country speeding up its development of nuclear weapons and missiles.
The rocket was fired from an area near Pukchang, in South Phyongan Province, and flew eastward about 500km, said South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff. It gave no more details.
The United States said it was aware that North Korea had launched a midrange ballistic missile.
White House officials travelling in Saudi Arabia with President Donald Trump said the system, which was last tested in February, had a shorter range than the missiles launched in North Korea’s most recent tests.
“South Korea and the United States are closely analysing the launch for further information,” South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said. “Our military is closely monitoring the North Korean military for any further provocation and maintaining readiness to respond.”
A week ago North Korea successfully tested a new midrange missile that Pyongyang said could carry a heavy nuclear warhead. Experts said that rocket flew higher and for a longer time than any other missile previously tested by North Korea, and that it could one day reach targets as far away as Hawaii and Alaska.
Under the watch of third-generation dictator Kim Jong Un, North Korea has been aggressively pursuing a decadeslong goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland.
North Korea conducted two nuclear tests last year alone, possibly improving its knowledge on making nuclear weapons small enough to fit on longrange missiles. It has also conducted a slew of rocket launches as it continues to advance its arsenal of ballistic weapons, which also include midrange solid-fuel missiles to be fired from land mobile launchers or submarines.
Such tests present a difficult challenge to new South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a liberal who took office on May 10 and has expressed a desire to reach out to North Korea. Pyongyang’s aggressive push to boost its weapons programme also makes it one of the most urgent foreign policy concerns for the Trump Administration, though Washington has struggled to settle on a policy.
Earlier yesterday Moon named his new foreign minister nominee and top advisers for security and foreign policy.
He held a National Security Council meeting at the presidential Blue House to discuss the missile launch. — AP