North Korea launches missile, challenges US

North Korea has conducted another ballistic-missile test, challenging the US and, particularly, the Trump administration.  

North Korea reportedly fired a ballistic missile early Sunday in what would be its first such test of the year and an implicit challenge to US President Donald Trump, who stood with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he called the move “absolutely intolerable.”

There was no immediate confirmation from North Korea, which had recently warned that it was ready to test its first intercontinental ballistic missile. The US Strategic Command said it detected and tracked what it assessed to be a medium- or intermediate-range ballistic missile.

North Korean media are often slow to announce such launches, if they announce them at all. As of Sunday afternoon, there had been no official announcement, and most North Koreans went about their day with no inkling that the launch was major international news.

The reports came as Trump was hosting Abe and just days before North Korea is to mark the birthday of leader Kim Jong Un’s late father, Kim Jong-il.

Appearing with Trump at a news conference at the president’s south Florida estate, Abe condemned the missile launch as “absolutely intolerable.” Trump said, “I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent.”

Abe read a brief statement in which he called on the North to comply fully with relevant UN Security Council resolutions. He said Trump has assured him of US support and that Trump’s presence showed the president’s determination and commitment.

‘Credible Nuclear Threat to the US’

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missile was fired from around Banghyon, North Pyongan Province, which is where South Korean officials have said the North test-launched its powerful midrange Musudan missile on Oct. 15 and 20.

The military in Seoul said that the missile flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles). But Yonhap reported that while determinations are still being made, it was not believed to be an ICBM.

The missile splashed down into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to the US Strategic Command. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters the missile did not hit Japanese territorial seas. The North conducted two nuclear tests and a slew of rocket launches last year in continued efforts to expand its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

Kim Jong Un said in his New Year’s address that the country has reached the final stages of readiness to test an ICBM, which would be a major step forward in its efforts to build a credible nuclear threat to the US.

Though Pyongyang has been relatively quiet about the transfer of power to the Trump administration, its state media has repeatedly called for Washington to abandon its “hostile policy” and vowed to continue its nuclear and missile development programs until the US changes its diplomatic approach.

Just days ago, it also reaffirmed its plan to conduct more space launches, which it staunchly defends but which have been criticized because they involve dual-use technology that can be transferred to improve missiles.

Kim Dong-yeop, an analyst at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, speculated that the missile could be a Musudan or a similar rocket designed to test engines for an intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit the US mainland. Analysts are divided, however, over how close the North is to having a reliable long-range rocket that could be coupled with a nuclear warhead capable to striking US targets.

South Korean Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said that his country will punish North Korea for the missile launch. According to the Foreign Ministry, South Korea will continue to work with allies, including the United States, Japan and the European Union, to ensure a thorough implementation of sanctions against the North and make the country realize that it will “never be able to survive” without discarding all of its nuclear and missile programs.

By: AP