N. Korea fires record missile shot over Japan
France ready to hammer out tougher sanctions after weapon plunges into Pacific Ocean 3,700 kilometres from launch site
SEOUL— North Korea said on Saturday leader Kim Jong Un vowed to complete his nuclear weapons program in the face of strengthening sanctions after he inspected a powerful new intermediate-range missile that was fired over Japan.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency carried Kim’s comments a day after U.S. and South Korean militaries detected the missile launch from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
It travelled 3,700 kilometres before landing into the northern Pacific Ocean. It was the country’s longestever test flight of a ballistic missile.
The North has confirmed the missile as an intermediate range Hwasong-12, which it also launched over Japan on Aug. 29. The KCNA said Kim expressed great satisfaction over the launch, which he said verified the “combat efficiency and reliability” of the missile and the success of efforts to increase its power. While the English version of the report was less straightforward, the Korean version quoted Kim as declaring the missile as operationally ready.
Kim also said the country, despite “limitless” international sanctions, has nearly completed the building of its nuclear weapons force and called for “all-state efforts” to reach the goal and obtain a “capacity for nuclear counterattack the U.S. cannot cope with.”
“As recognized by the whole world, we have made all these achievements despite the UN sanctions that have lasted for decades,” the agency quoted Kim as saying.
Kim said the country’s final goal is to “is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military option for the DPRK,” referring to North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The UN Security Council was called into emergency session Friday to talk about what to do now Kim has ignored its latest round of sanctions.
France’s foreign ministry said the country is ready to work on tougher UN and EU measures “to convince the regime in Pyongyang that there is no interest in an escalation, and to bring it to the negotiating table.” It said North Korea will also be discussed during next week’s annual gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly.
The launch signalled both defiance of North Korea’s rivals and a big technological advance.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury” in August, the North has conducted its most powerful nuclear test, threatened to send missiles into the waters around the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam and launched two missiles of increasing range over Japan. July saw the country’s first tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could strike deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.
The growing frequency, power and confidence displayed by these tests seem to confirm what governments and outside experts have long feared: North Korea is closer than ever to its goal of building a military arsenal that can viably target U.S. troops both in Asia and in the U.S. homeland.
This, in turn, is meant to allow North Korea greater military freedom in the region by raising doubts in Seoul and Tokyo that Washington would risk the annihilation of a U.S. city to protect its Asian allies.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the missile launch as a serious violation of Security Council resolutions, coming less than two weeks after the North’s sixth nuclear test, which also violated a UN ban. The Security Council’s emergency meeting Friday was behind closed doors.
On Monday, the council unanimously approved its toughest sanctions yet on North Korea over its nuclear test, which Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb. The U.S. said the measures, including a ban on textile exports, combined with previous sanctions would ban over 90 per cent of North Korea’s exports reported in 2016.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry denounced the sanctions and said the North would “redouble its efforts to increase its strength to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and right to existence.”
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the latest missile travelled about 3,700 kilometres and reached a maximum height of 770 kilometres. Guam, which is the home of important U.S. military assets, is 3,400 kilometres away from North Korea.
Despite its impressive range, the missile probably still is not accurate enough to destroy Guam’s Andersen air force base, said David Wright, a U.S. missile expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists. North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Friday, without mentioning the latest missile test, that its weapons tests demonstrate that it can “turn the American empire into a sea in flames through sudden surprise attack from any region and area.”
South Korean President Moon Jaein, a liberal who initially pushed for talks with North Korea, said its tests is currently making dialogue “impossible.”
North Korea has repeatedly vowed to continue its weapons tests amid what it calls U.S. hostility — by which it means the presence of nearly 80,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan and South Korea.
Robust international diplomacy on the issue has been stalled for years, and there’s so far little sign that senior officials from North Korea and the U.S. might sit down to discuss ways to slow the North’s determined march toward inclusion among the world’s nuclear weapons powers.
Friday’s test, which Seoul said was the 19th launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea this year, triggered sirens and warning messages in northern Japan but caused no apparent damage to aircraft or ships. It was the second missile fired from Sunan over Japan in less than a month.