North Korea celebrates new ‘perfect weapon’
NORTH Korea yesterday celebrated the launch of what appeared to be its longest-range ballistic missile yet tested in a bid to bring the US mainland within reach, saying it was capable of carrying a heavy nuclear warhead.
Leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test on Sunday, the official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said, and pictures by state media showed him gazing at the missile in a hangar before the launch.
In others, he gleefully clasped hands with officers and staff after the black missile – named as the Hwasong-12 – ascended into the sky in the dawn light, atop a column of fire.
The isolated North is under multiple sets of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes, which have triggered global alarm.
The missile was launched on an unusually high trajectory, with KCNA saying it flew to an altitude of 2 111.5km and travelled 787km before coming down in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
That suggested a range of 4 500km or more if flown for maximum distance, analysts said.
On the respected 38 North website, aerospace engineering specialist John Schilling said it appeared to demonstrate an intermediate-range ballistic missile that could reliably strike the US base at Guam, 3 400km away in the Pacific.
“More importantly, it may represent a substantial advance to developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM),” he said. The North has carried out two atomic tests and dozens of missile launches since the beginning of last year in its quest to develop a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental US – something President Donald Trump has vowed won’t happen.
KCNA said the new rocket was a perfect weapon capable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead.
It cited Kim as saying the North would never succumb to the “highly ridiculous US strategy of militarily browbeating only weak countries and nations which have no nukes”.
“If the US dares opt for a military provocation against the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name], we are ready to counter it,” it said. Tensions between the two reached a peak in recent weeks, with Washington saying military action was an option under consideration and Pyongyang issuing threats of its own.
Last week, the South elected a new president, Moon Jae-in, who advocates reconciliation with Pyongyang.
But he slammed the latest missile test as a reckless provocation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the latest missile test dangerous yesterday, but warned that Pyongyang was being intimidated and called for a peaceful solution to regional tensions.