Russia, China propose missile test moratorium
MOSCOW — Russia and China have proposed that North Korea declare a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests while the United States and South Korea refrain from large-scale military exercises.
The call was issued in a joint statement by the Russian and Chinese foreign ministries on Tuesday following talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Moscow and Beijing suggested that if North Korea halts nuclear and missile tests while the U.S. and South Korea freeze military maneuvers, the parties could sit down for talks that should lead to obligations not to use force and to refrain from aggression. tests. In a special announcement on state television, North Korea said the missile flew about 579 miles, reaching an altitude of 1,741 miles.
The launch was made from a site in North Korea’s North Pyongan province, and the missile flew more than 500 miles before landing in waters off Japan’s coast, U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials said.
As with other recent launches, the missile appears to have been fired at a very steep trajectory in an effort to avoid flying over neighbors.
Multiple independent analyses of the test showed that the missile flew at a high-altitude trajectory, soaring to about 1,700 miles before landing in the Pacific off the Japanese coast, about 580 miles from its launch point.
The Pentagon and the State Department confirmed late Tuesday that North Korea had launched an ICBM.
“The United States strongly condemns North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile,” Tillerson said in a statement. “Testing an ICBM represents a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region, and the world.”
Tillerson added that the United States intends to bring the issue before the U.N. Security Council to hold North Korea accountable.
On Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, announced that she and her counterparts in Japan and South Korea had requested an emergency Security Council meeting, set for Wednesday afternoon.