Kim vows nukes not up for negotiation
Analysts see ‘week on week’ arms progress
SEOUL: North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, vowed his nation would “demonstrate its mettle to the US” and never put its weapons programmes up for negotiations a day after test-launching its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The hard line suggests more tests are being prepared as the country tries to perfect a nuclear missile capable of striking anywhere in the United States.
Tuesday’s ICBM launch, confirmed later by US and South Korean officials, is a milestone in Pyongyang’s efforts to develop long-range nuclear-armed missiles.
The North isn’t there yet — some analysts suggest it will take several more years to perfect such an arsenal, and many more tests — but a successful launch of an ICBM has long been seen as a red line.
Worry spread in Washington and at the United Nations, where the United States, Japan and South Korea requested a UN Security Council emergency session, to be held after press time yesterday.
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.
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”.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry, in a report to lawmakers, tentatively concluded that North Korea test-fired a “new missile with an ICBM-class range” of more than 5,500km.
But the ministry said it’s not certain if the test was successful because Seoul couldn’t verify if the North has mastered re-entry technology for an ICBM.
The ministry said North Korea may now conduct a nuclear test with “boosted explosive power” to show off a warhead to be mounted on a missile.
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-toface meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in and ahead of the G20 summit of the world’s 20 richest economies, to be held in Hamburg, Germany.
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 [the North Koreans] 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.
Some outside civilian experts believe the North has the technology to mount warheads on shorter-range Rodong and Scud missiles that can strike South Korea and Japan, two key US allies where about 80,000 American troops are stationed.
But it’s unclear if it has mastered the technology needed to build an atomic bomb that can fit on a long-range missile.
Soon after the launch, Mr Trump responded on Twitter: “North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!”
“This guy” presumably refers to Mr Kim. China is North Korea’s economic lifeline and only major ally, and the Trump administration is pushing Beijing to do more to push the North toward disarmament.
North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons and powerful missiles to cope with what it calls rising US military threats.
The missile test could invite a new round of international sanctions, but North Korea is already one of the most sanctioned countries on Earth.
Last year, North Korea conducted its fourth and fifth atomic bomb tests and claimed a series of technical breakthroughs in its efforts to develop long-range nuclear missiles. The fifth nuclear test in September was the North’s most powerful atomic detonation to date.
The Korean Peninsula has been divided since the end of World War II. Almost 30,000 US troops are stationed in South Korea. AP