North Korea boasts about new ballistic missile

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea on Monday boasted it successfully launched a new type of “medium longrange” ballistic rocket that can carry a heavy nuclear warhead, an escalation of its nuclear program that the U.N. Security Council warned could bring new sanctions on Pyongyang.

Outsiders saw a significant technological jump in the weekend test, with the rocket apparently flying higher and for a longer time than any other such previous missile.

Amid condemnation in Seoul, Tokyo, Washington and Moscow, a jubilant North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised more nuclear and missile tests and warned that his country’s weapons could strike the U.S. mainland and Pacific holdings.

North Korean propaganda must be considered with wariness – Pyongyang has threatened for decades to reduce Seoul to a “sea of fire,” for instance – but Monday’s claim, if confirmed, would mark another big advance toward the North’s goal of fielding a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Some experts, including officials in Tokyo, estimated Sunday’s launch successfully test- ed a new type of missile, potentially the longest-range in North Korea’s arsenal.

The test is also an immediate challenge to South Korea’s new president, Moon Jae-in, a liberal elected last week who expressed a desire to reach out to North Korea. Pyongyang’s aggressive push to boost its weapons program also makes it one of the Trump administration’s most urgent foreign policy worries, though Washington has struggled to settle on a policy.

The U.N. Security Council late Monday expressed “utmost concern” at what it called North Korea’s “highly destabilizing behavior and provocative defiance” of council resolutions demanding a halt to all nuclear-related tests. It again demanded that Pyongyang conduct no further nuclear or ballistic missile tests.

The press statement from the U.N.’s most powerful body said its 15 members agreed to “take further significant measures including sanctions, in line with the council’s previously expressed determination.” It also vowed to fully implement the six sanctions resolutions previously adopted and urged all U.N. member nations to implement the measures “in an expeditious and serious manner.”