North Korea testing new intercontinental missile, says US

TWO recent North Korean missile tests were of a new intercontinental ballistic missile system, marking a “serious escalation” by Pyongyang, the United States said last night.

Washington said the move by Kim Jong-un would be punished with fresh sanctions. North Korea had claimed the tests on Feb 26 and March 4 were to do with reconnaissance satellites.

But a US official said Washington had concluded they were experimental precursors to a possible full-range ICBM launch.

That would mark the end of Pyongyang’s self-imposed moratorium, which has been in place since 2017.

A US official said the two latest tests involved a “relatively new intercontinental ballistic missile system”.

The official said neither test showed the range or capability of an ICBM, but they were intended to “test elements of this new system” before North Korea “conducts a launch in full range”.

When the full test is carried out, North Korea will probably seek to disguise it as a “space launch”, the official said.

The US treasury would announce new measures today to stop North Korea obtaining “foreign items and technology” to help its missile efforts, the official added.

When the new ICBM was unveiled at the parade in 2020, military analysts described it as the largest road-mobile, liquid-fueled missile in the world.

‘Relatively new intercontinental ballistic missile system [was tested]’

Pyongyang is reportedly convinced that Russia would never have attacked Ukraine if it had retained the nuclear weapons deployed in the country by the Soviet Union.

Mr Kim has also declared North Korea will launch reconnaissance satellites to gather information on the military capabilities of the US and its “vassal forces” in the region. The North Korean leader said “a lot” of satellites will be put into orbit, Korea Central News Agency said.