Report: N. Korea missile might be able to hit D.C.
D.C. may now be in range as tensions soar
Experts say intercontinental ballistic missile fired Tuesday puts nation’s capital technically within reach. Trump says “we will handle” situation.
TOKYO — North Korea launched another intercontinental ballistic missile, the Pentagon said, with experts calculating that Washington, D.C., is technically within Kim Jong Un’s reach. The launch, the first in 10 weeks, is a sign that the North Korean leader’s regime is pressing ahead with its stated goal of being able to strike the U.S. mainland.
“We will take care of it,” President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday at the White House. It is a “situation we will handle.”
A growing chorus of voices in Washington is calling for consideration of military action against North Korea, although this is opposed by South Korea, where the Seoul metropolitan area — home to 25 million people — is within the range of North Korean artillery.
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Wednesday afternoon at the request of Japan, the United States and South Korea.
The North Korean missile traveled 620 miles and reached a height of about 2,800 miles before landing early Wednesday off Japan. It flew for about 54 minutes — a test that escalated tensions with Washington.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning said the North American Aerospace Defense Command, known as NORAD, “determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America, our territories or our allies.”
South Korean President Moon Jae-in raised concerns that North Korea’s perfection of an ICBM would let regional security “spiral out of control” and make the United States consider a pre-emptive strike against the North.
Moon has called for his military to take further steps to strengthen its capabilities following a recent agreement between Seoul and Washington to lift the warhead payload limits on South Korean missiles.
Trump spoke with Moon about the countries’ response to the launch.
The White House said both leaders “underscored the grave threat that North Korea’s latest provocation poses” not only to U.S. and South Korea, “but to the entire world.”
The North Korean missile was fired almost straight up — on a “lofted trajectory” similar to North Korea’s two previous ICBM tests. If it had been flown on a standard trajectory designed to maximize its reach, the missile would have a range of over 8,100 miles, said David Wright, co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“This is significantly longer than North Korea’s previous long-range tests, which flew on lofted trajectories for 37 minutes and 47 minutes,” Wright said. “Such a missile would have more than enough range to reach Washington, D.C.”
The U.S. capital is 6,850 miles from Pyongyang.
It is still unlikely that North Korea is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the U.S. mainland.
Scientists do not know the weight of the payload the missile carried, but given the increase in range, it seems likely that it carried a light mock warhead, Wright said. “If true, that means it would not be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to this long distance, since such a warhead would be much heavier,” he said in a blog post.
In Washington, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the missile was fired “higher, frankly, than any previous shots” that North Korea has taken.
He said Kim’s continued effort to develop nuclear weapons “endangers world peace, regional peace and certainly the United States.”