North Korea touts missile advances

Much progress seen in most recent launch

TOKYO — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un celebrated a test of the “perfect weapon system” after his engineers launched what they said was a new kind of intermediate-range ballistic missile system capable of carrying “a large-size heavy nuclear warhead.”

The missile, launched Sunday morning, appeared to show substantial progress toward developing an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach the mainland United States, U.S. rocket scientists said.

“North Korea’s latest successful missile test represents a level of performance never before seen from a North Korean missile,” said John Schilling, an aerospace engineer who specializes in rockets.

This means North Korea might be only one year, rather than the expected five, from having an ICBM, he said.

The latest launch was widely condemned, with the White House calling North Korea a “flagrant menace” and urging allies to impose stronger sanctions. South Korea and Japan also condemned the launch.

Releasing the first photos of the

launch — something Pyongyang does with missiles it deems successful — North Korea’s state media said it was a “new ground-toground medium long-range strategic ballistic rocket” thatit called Hwasong-12.

It used a re-entry vehicle capable of delivering a warhead to a target, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

“If the U.S. awkwardly attempts to provoke the DPRK, it will not escape from the biggest disaster in the history,” the agency quotedMr. Kim as saying.

Although North Korea is known for its florid rhetoric and Monday’s claim has not been confirmed, experts are concerned that it is making substantial progress toward Mr. Kim’s stated goal of developingan intercontinental ballisticmissile.

NorthKorea fired a ballistic missile early Sunday, sending it from a launch site near its border with China 435 miles into the sea between the Korean Peninsula andJapan.

Analysts think the Hwasong-12 could be the “mystery missile” displayed in a huge military parade in Pyongyang last month, which appeared to be a smaller version of its KN-08 ICBM.

The missile flew for 30 minutes, much longer than other recent missile launches, meaning that it went straight up rather than tryingto fly as far as possible — a path that would have sentit over Japan.

“This was a single-stage liquid rocket, but it was still using high-energy fuel, so it probably had a really great range,” said Melissa Hanham of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation in California. “This is the longest-range intermediate range ballistic missile they have shown us, and it could bepart of an ICBM.”

David Wright, co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the missile appeared to have reached an apogee of about 1,240miles.

If it had been launched on a standard trajectory, it would have a technical range of 2,800 miles, he said. That would easily put the U.S. territory of Guam withinrange.

Mr. Schilling, the aerospace engineer, said that the latest launch demonstrated only what might be able to reliably strike the U.S. militarybase on Guam.

“But more importantly, [it] may represent a substantial advance to developing an intercontinental ballistic missile,”Mr. Schilling wrote ina post for 38 North.

This could be a “hedge” against U.S. military action againstit, he said.

The launch complicates the new South Korean president’s plan to talk to the North, and came as U.S., Asian and European navies gather for joint war games near Guam and also off the KoreanPeninsula.

The Trump administration has repeatedly said that all options are on the table to stop North Korea from advancingits nuclear weapons andmissile programs.

In its statement Sunday, the White House appeared to call indirectly for Russian support in containing Mr. Kim’snuclear ambitions.

President Donald Trump has also sought to enlist Chinese President Xi Jinping’s help.

The missile test came at an embarrassing moment for China — hours before China’s Belt and Road Forum — making it appear that Mr. Xi lacks influence with Mr. Kim.