N Korea vows more ‘gift packages’
SOUTH KOREA: Grinning broadly, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delighted in the global furor created by his nation’s first launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, vowing yesterday to never abandon nuclear weapons and to keep sending Washington more ‘‘gift packages’' of missile and atomic tests.
United States and South Korean forces, in response to Tuesday’s launch, engineered a show of force for Pyongyang, with soldiers from the allies firing ‘‘deep strike’' precision missiles into South Korean territorial waters.
South Korean President Moon Jae In ordered the drills arranged with the US to show ‘‘North Korea our firm combined missile response posture’', his office said.
A North Korean test of an ICBM, confirmed by US officials, is a momentous step forward for Pyongyang as it works to build an arsenal of long-range nucleararmed missiles that can hit anywhere in the US.
The North isn’t there yet – some analysts suggest it will take several more years to perfect such an arsenal – but a successful launch of an ICBM has long been seen as a red line, after which it would only be a matter of time, if the country isn’t stopped.
Worry spread in Washington and at the United Nations, where the US, Japan and South Korea requested a UN Security Council emergency session.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US response would include ‘‘stronger measures to hold the DPRK accountable’', using an acronym for the nation’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The uproar only seemed to inspire the North, whose propaganda machine rarely fails to aggrandise its leader and its military or to thumb its nose at rivals Seoul and Washington.
A report in its state media yesterday described leader Kim as ‘‘feasting his eyes’' on the ICBM, which was said to be capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead, before its launch.
‘‘With a broad smile on his face,’' Kim urged his scientists to ‘‘frequently send big and small ‘gift packages’ to the Yankees,’' an apparent reference to continuing the stream of nuclear and missile tests Kim has ordered since taking power in late 2011.
The test, North Korea’s most successful yet, is a direct rebuke to President Donald Trump’s earlier claim such a test ‘‘won’t happen’'.
A US scientist analysing the height and distance of the launch said the missile could potentially reach Alaska.
North Korea’s Academy of Defence Science, in a bit of hyperbole, said the test of what it called the Hwasong-14 marked the ‘‘final step’' in creating a ‘‘confident and powerful nuclear state that can strike anywhere on Earth’'.
The launch sends a political warning to Washington and its chief Asian allies, Seoul and Tokyo, while also allowing North Korean scientists a chance to perfect their still-incomplete nuclear missile programme. It came days after the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Moon and ahead of a summit of the world’s richest economies.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commanding officer of the British Armed Forces Joint Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Regiment, said that ‘‘in capability of missile terms and delivery, it is a major step up and they seem to be making progress week-on-week’'.
He added, however, that ‘‘actually marrying the warhead to the missile is probably the biggest challenge, which they appear not to have progressed on’'.
North Korea has a reliable arsenal of shorter-range missiles and is thought to have a small number of atomic bombs, but is still trying to perfect its longerrange missiles. – AP