N. Korean missile threatens Alaska
US President Donald Trump got an unexpected gift from North Korea on the American Independence Day: An intercontinental ballistic missile, which is capable of hitting Alaska.
The North has long sought to build a rocket capable of delivering an atomic warhead to the United States. Its possession of a working ICBM will force a recalculation of the strategic threat it poses.
The test of a Hwasong14 missile was overseen by leader Kim Jong-Un himself. It reached an altitude of 2,802 km and flew 933 km.
While there are still doubts whether North Korea can miniaturise a nuclear weapon sufficiently to fit it onto a missile nose cone, Mr Trump asked on Twitter: “Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?”
Russia and China called for a simultaneous freeze on North Korean nuclear and missile tests and military exercises by the United States.
Mr Trump went public with his displeasure over China’s trade ties with North Korea, which provide lifeline for the isolated country.
“Trade between China and North Korea grew almost 40 per cent in the first quarter. So much for China working with us…,” the US President wrote in a tweet.
Beijing, however, claimed that normal trade activities with Pyongyang, especially those concerning people’s livelihoods and that reflect the principles of humanitarianism, should not be affected by sanctions.
The United Nations has imposed multiple sets of sanctions on Pyongyang over its weapons programmes, which retorts that it needs nuclear arms to defend itself against the threat of invasion.