KIM GOES BALLIStIC IN tHE SEA OF JAPAN
North Korea in new missile test
NORTH Korea has launched another a ballistic missile test – this time landing in the Sea of Japan.
The launch, which Tokyo said could be of a new type of missile, is a direct challenge to the new South Korean president and comes as US, Japanese and European navies gather for joint Pacific war games.
It was the seventh time the country has launched a missile this year.
The US Pacific Command said “the flight is not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile” but it was not immediately clear what type it was.
Japanese officials said it flew for about 30 minutes, travelling about 500 miles and reaching an altitude of 1240 miles – a flight pattern that could indicate a new type of missile.
South Korea, Japan and the US swiftly condemned the launch, which jeopardises new South Korean leader Moon Jae-in’s willingness for dialogue with the North.
The White House said North Korea has been “a flagrant menace for far too long”.
US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said yesterday that the launch stemmed from president Kim Jong-un’s “state of paranoia” following Jae-in’s election.
Speaking on TV, she pledged the US will continue to “tighten the screws” on North Korea with possible new sanctions. The launch was “getting close to home” for Russia, Haley said, adding that it was not the way for Jong-un to earn a meeting with president Donald Trump. David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Programme at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the launch may have been of a new mobile, two-stage liquid-fuelled missile North Korea displayed in a huge April 15 military parade. A South Korean spokesman expressed regret over the North’s “reckless provocation”. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that the launch was “absolutely unacceptable” and that Japan will respond resolutely. KATY Perry went bananas for yellow during a performance yesterday.
The singer’s dress even had a split in it and she opted for a matching yellow mic at the California event. No wonder the Firework star needed sunglasses.