North Korea fires ballistic missile
Launches rocket 800 km into waters to east
SEOUL• North Korea on Friday fired a medium-range ballistic missile into the sea, days after its leader, Kim Jong Un, ordered tests likely aimed at developing technology it needs to acquire to build a missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement that the missile flew 800 kilometres before crashing off North Korea’s east coast.
South Korean military officials said it wasn’t immediately known what type of missile was fired. But a South Korean defence official, requesting anonymity citing department rules, said it is the first medium- range missile launched by the North since April 2014 when it fired two.
A senior U.S. defence official said the Pentagon could confirm that North Korea conducted a ballistic missile launch into the Sea of Japan. The official said it appeared to have been a Nodong medium-range ballistic missile launched from a road-mobile transporter erector launcher.
He said test represents a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.
Friday’ s launch came amid a heightened international standoff over the North’s weapons programs in the wake of its nuclear test and long- range rocket launch earlier this year.
In recent weeks, North Korea threatened preemptive nuclear strikes against Washington and Seoul and test- fired shortrange missiles and artillery into the sea in response to tough UN sanctions imposed over its nuclear test and rocket launch. The North says it needs nuclear weapons to cope with what it calls U.S. military threats.
On Tuesday, North Korea’s state media said Kim had ordered tests of a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying warheads. Kim issued that order while overseeing a successful simulated test of a re- entry vehicle aimed at returning a nuclear warhead into the atmosphere from space so it could hit its intended target.
This led South Korean analysts to suspect that the North likely would fire a missile soon to test the re- entry technology.
Some analysts had also predicted the North might fire a missile carrying an empty warhead — which contains trigger devices but lacks plutonium or uranium — to see if those warhead’s parts could survive the high pressure and temperatures upon r e- entr y i nto t he atmosphere and if they were able to detonate at the right time.
Outside experts said it is the last major technology that North Korea must master to achieve its goal of developing a long-range missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.
South Korean defence of- ficials said North Korea had yet to acquire the re- entry technology so that it doesn’t yet have a functioning intercontinental ballistic missile.
The United States announced Wednesday it was imposing new sanctions on North Korea, blacklisting more than a dozen government officials, agencies and companies in a response to what the administration called Pyongyang’s “illicit” nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
The measures were announced shortly after U. S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order authorizing tighter sanct i ons. They “reflect t he United States’ commitment to holding North Korea accountable for its destabilizing actions,” said Adam J. Szubin, acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department.
This month, the United Nations adopted sweeping new sanctions against North Korea in an attempt to pressure it to abandon its nuclear weapons technology.
“The U. S. and the global community will not tolerate North Korea’s illicit nuclear and ballistic missile activities, and we will continue to impose costs on North Korea until it comes into compliance with its international obligation,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.