UK condemns North Korea missile test
● Scientists warn Pyongyang missile now has range to hit parts of US
Britain has condemned North Korea’s test launch of its first intercontinental ballistic missile.
Downing Street said it was still establishing the full details of the test, which is reportedly the most successful yet achieved by the Pyongyang regime
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the launch would amount to a breach of UN Security Council resolutions, no matter what the nature of the missile fired.
“This is yet another reminder of the grave danger that North Korea poses to her neighbours, particularly Japan and South Korea, who are our friends and allies,” he said.
North Korea yesterday claimed it successfully testlaunched its first intercontinental ballistic missile.
The launch appeared to be North Korea’s most successful missile test yet.
A US scientist examining the height and distance said the missile could potentially be powerful enough to reach Alaska.
North Korea’s Academy of Defence Science said the test of an ICBM – the Hwasong-14 – marked the “final step” in creating a “confident and powerful nuclear state that can strike anywhere on Earth”.
It will be difficult to confirm many details about what happened. North Korea’s weapons programme is perhaps the most closely held state secret in one of the world’s most suspicious nations.
US, South Korean and Japanese officials earlier assessed that the North fired an intermediate-range missile into waters near Japan.
Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to comment on whether Japan thinks it was an ICBM, and South Korea’s defence ministry said it was analysing whether the North’s statement was accurate.
Britain condemned the launch. Downing Street said it was still establishing the full details of the test.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the launch would amount to a breach of UN Security Council resolutions, no matter what the nature of the missile fired.
North Korea has previously launched satellites in what critics said were disguised tests of its long-range missile technology. A test-launch of an ICBM, however, would be a major step in developing nuclear-armed missiles that could reach anywhere in the United States.
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 stillincomplete nuclear missile programme.
It came days after the first face-to-face meeting of the leaders of South Korea and the United States, and ahead of a global summit of the world’s richest economies.
Most outside and North Korean analyses of the missile’s height, distance and time in the air were roughly similar.
US, South Korean and Japanese officials say it flew for about 40 minutes and reached an altitude of 1,500 miles, which would be longer and higher than any similar North Korean test previously reported. It also covered a distance of about 580 miles.
North Korea said the missile hit a designated target in the ocean about 580 miles away from the launch site in the North’s northwest. It said the missile flew for about 39 minutes and was made at the highest possible angle.
Russia’s military, however, said the missile flew consid- erably shorter and lower than others reported.
Before North Korea’s announcement of an ICBM, South Korean analysts said it was likely that it was a retest of one of two intermediate-range missiles launched earlier this year.
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”.
President 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!”