Kim’s bomb lands close to Japan
TENSION: POSSIBLE ICBM LAUNCHED AFTER TRUMP PUTS N KOREA ON TERROR FRIENDLY LIST
South Korea studies launch details with Americans, expects another missile soon.
North Korea fired a missile that landed close to Japan yesterday, the first test by Pyongyang since a missile fired over its neighbor in mid-September and the Pentagon said its initial assessment was that it was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
North Korea launched the missile a week after President Donald Trump put North Korea back on a US list of countries that Washington says support terrorism. The designation allows the United States to impose more sanctions, although some experts said it risked inflaming tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The Pentagon said in its initial assessment that the missile was an ICBM launched from Sain Ni in North Korea and travelled about 1 000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan. It added that the missile did not pose a threat to the United States, its territories or allies.
Japan’s government estimated that the missile flew for about 50 minutes and landed in the sea in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Japanese broadcaster NHK said.
Minutes after the North fired the missile, South Korea’s military conducted a missile-firing test in response, the South Korean military added.
Leading Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun quoted an unidentified government official as saying the missile did not cross over Japan and it fell into the Sea of Japan or on the Korean peninsula.
The White House said US President Trump was briefed while the missile was still in the air.
The South Korean military said the missile flew to the east and they were analyzing details of the launch with the United States.
US government sources said earlier that US government experts believed North Korea could conduct a new missile test within days.
Last week, North Korea denounced Trump’s decision to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism, calling it a “serious provocation and violent infringement”.
Trump has warned in his maiden speech to the UN in September that the US would “totally destroy” North Korea if forced to defend itself or its allies. – Reuters