Defiant North Korea fires another missile over Japan
Pyongyang again challenges the US and other world powers with a new salvo
North Korea fired a missile over Japan and far out into the Pacific Ocean yesterday for the second time in under a month, again challenging the US and other world powers to rein in Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programmes.
Amid international condemnations of the test, the UN Security Council was to meet later in the day to discuss the launch at the request of the US and Japan, diplomats said.
The missile flew over Hokkaido in the north and landed in the Pacific about 2,000km to the east, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. It travelled about 3,700km in total, according to South Korea’s military — far enough to reach the US Pacific territory of Guam, which the North has threatened before.
North Korea’s second missile launch over Japan in as many months flew far enough to put the US territory of Guam in range, a provocation that comes days after the United Nations approved harsher sanctions against Kim Jong-un’s regime.
The intermediate-range missile fired from Pyongyang at 6.57am yesterday flew over the northern island of Hokkaido, reaching an altitude of 770 kilometres before landing in the Pacific Ocean. It travelled 3,700 kilometres — further than the 3,400 kilometres from Pyongyang to Guam, which North Korea has repeatedly threatened.
Warning announcements about the missile blared around 7am in the town of Kamaishi in northern Japan, footage from national broadcaster NHK showed. US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis said the launch “put millions of Japanese into duck and cover”.
The missile reached an altitude of about 770 kilometres and flew for about 19 minutes over a distance of about 3,700 kilometres, according to South Korea’s military — far enough to reach the US Pacific territory of Guam.
Range of the test
“The range of this test was significant since North Korea demonstrated that it could reach Guam with this missile, although the payload the missile was carrying is not known,” David Wright, a co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote in a blog post.
North Korea, which has fired more than a dozen missiles this year, had pledged to retaliate after the UN Security Council punished the country for its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on September 3.
A North Korean foreign ministry official told reporters at Beijing’s international airport that yesterday’s launch was a “normal part of strengthening our nuclear deterrent,” according to NHK.
The Japanese public broadcaster cited Choe Kang Il, deputy director-general for North American affairs, as saying North Korea wouldn’t enter dialogue unless the US stops antagonising his nation. Choe was on his way back from Switzerland, where he attended a meeting on Northeast Asian security.
US President Donald Trump was briefed on the missile launch but made no mention of North Korea in remarks at a White House dinner on Thursday night.
The president has said all options — including military — are on the table to stop North Korea from obtaining the ability to strike the US with a nuclear weapon, and has questioned the usefulness of talks.
“These continued provocations only deepen North Korea’s diplomatic and economic isolation,” US Secretary Rex Tillerson said in a statement. He reiterated a call for China and Russia to take action against the rogue state, saying: “China supplies North Korea with most of its oil. Russia is the largest employer of North Korean forced labour.”
On Monday, the UN Security Council approved new sanctions after the US dropped key demands such as an oil embargo to win support from Russia and China, both of which can veto any proposals.