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NORTH KOREA TEST fired what appeared to be another intercontinental ballistic missile, just hours after the US and Japan moved to step up sanctions against Pyongyang following its first ICBM test earlier this month.
South Korean, US and Japanese monitors all detected the unusual late-night test, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying the missile may have landed within Japan’s maritime exclusive economic zone.
“We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said, adding that the rocket travelled about 1,000 kilometers before splashing down in the Sea of Japan.
The launch came a day after North Korea celebrated what it calls “Victory Day” – the anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang regularly times its missile tests to coincide with symbolic dates.
Condemnation was swift with Japan’s top government spokesman calling the test another clear violation of UN resolutions.
“Our country will never tolerate it and made a severe protest to North Korea, condemning it in the strongest words,” Suga said.
In Seoul and Tokyo, the governments convened meetings of their national security councils.
Further sanctions
US military and South Korean intelligence officials had in recent days warned that North Korea appeared to be prepping for another missile test –likely of an ICBM.
The ICBM test on 4 July had triggered global alarm, with experts saying the missile had a theoretical range that could reach Alaska.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, who personally oversaw that launch on America’s Independence Day, described it as a gift to the “American bastards.”
It sent tensions soaring in the region, pitting Washington, Tokyo and Seoul against China, Pyongyang’s last remaining major ally.
The United States instigated a push at the United Nations for tougher measures against Pyongyang, with US President Donald Trump saying he was considering a “pretty severe” response.
Joel Wit, a senior fellow at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on the North’s nuclear weapons programme, said today’s launch confirmed time was running out for Washington to find a way out of a pressing security crisis.
“Another North Korean test of what appears to be a missile that can reach the United States further emphasises the need for the Trump administration to focus like a laser on this increasingly dangerous situation,” Wit said on the institute’s 38 North website.
Today’s launch came just hours after the US Senate passed bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang, and Japan slapped its own sanctions on two Chinese firms, including a bank accused of laundering North Korean cash.
North Korea’s accelerated drive towards a credible nuclear strike capability poses a thorny policy challenge for Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim Jong-Un’s regime.
Trump has repeatedly urged Pyongyang’s chief backer Beijing to rein the Stalinist state in, but Beijing insists dialogue is the only practical way forward.
There are still doubts about whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nose cone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for it to survive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
But since Kim came to power there have been advances including three nuclear tests and multiple rocket launches.
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Everyone keeps saying “ohhh what if they get a missile that can reach California”…what if they do? Chinese missiles can reach anywhere in the US, Russian missiles can reach anywhere in the US, but they don’t fire them for the same reason NK won’t, because even if they got every single US air force missile base on the ground in a surprise first strike the US could just retaliate with B2′s, B-52s and Trident Subs and turn NK into a sheet of glass.
When you read up on NK and it’s geopolitics you discover they have this tendency to throw a tantrum or get aggressive when they want aid. They need aid because, contrary to what Richard Boyd Barret and Mr “im pretending to be working class even though I went to a fee paying school and earn a 6 figure income” Paul Murphy say, central economic planning and direct allocation are disasters. So why give them the money I used to wonder, why give into their tantrums, everyone is afraid if the aids totally cut off NK will collapse, nobody wants that.
China does not want it because it = floods of refugees, SK does not want it for same reason. The US does not want it because it means some nukes will go missing that might not be seen again until some NK general makes a fortune selling them to a Saudi prince that gives them to ISIS and next time they’re seen it’s a bright flash in DC or NY or London. They’re not gonna actually fire those missiles, they play insane but they’re not actually insane.
@Ryan Carroll:Makes sense and nice to read an informed comment rather than just making noise for the sake of making a comment but not actually having anything to add to the debate
@Ryan Carroll: fair post, but you refer to NK as “they” isn’t it really just one guy. If he has a melt down on any given day then everyone else does what he says, even though it may mean armageddon
Basically. Whatever your politics, you’d be stupid to believe that the North Korean administration is completely irrational – they don’t want a nuclear war any more than anyone else. But they’ve been living with the threat of an American-backed invasion for 60-odd years, so they’ve made a bit of military grandstanding a central part of their foreign policy. You might argue it’s not the best strategy for bringing the Korean conflict to a permanent resolution but it seems to be keeping them on the map so far.
@Neville Bartos: they might have a hereditary head of state but it’s hard to know how much of an autocrat KJU really is. I suspect he’d have a difficult time declaring war without the support of his generals, for instance.
@Ryan Carroll: To address what you said about giving NK aid, the reason it’s kept going is because the UN don’t want another Korean famine like we saw in the 90s when millions died. That’s why UN food aid will keep coming despite their military aggression.
In fact, the NK regime has been using nuclear tests as a weapon of blackmail in order to force the UN into giving them aid. As you mention, their economy is a shambles, so the only way everyone in the country doesn’t starve is if they threaten and loudmouth their way to humanitarian aid.
@Ryan Carroll: tbh I clicked on thinking this was another story about Bray Wanderers
@Ryan Carroll: what are you basing this input on? How do you know NK won’t launch? You can’t compare China to NK.
Sigh. Not very Christian.
@Ryan Carroll: the US probably does want this because a fall of NK means the US are right on the Chinese border destabilising the whole region the same way it’s doing in the Middle East
@Jesus Christ: Hey man, thanks for saving Microsoft Paint. I’ve started the ministry like I promised, mostly just preaching to the junkies outside the office. I have a sweet dog collar and shirt ordered, when it comes I’ll step things up a notch and start a weekly mass.
If there is one thing we’ve learned over the years is north Korea could not give a fiddlers about sanctions.
How many missiles have the USA n others not jus tested bit dropped on other countries?? The US are the only country to use nuclear weapons on civilian targets…North korea have never been involved in a war since the korean war…the US used chemical weapons in Vietnam…the US n UK have illegally invaded and destroyed countries all over the world for years…there is more to fear from so called western countries than anything else in this world…
@Robbie Moles: don’t forget the fact that the US killed 20% of the North Korean population only a few decades ago in a civilian targeted bombing campaign by flattening every settlement area bigger than a small village. And yet you still get idiots that think the North Koreans hate the west because of propaganda.
Tick-Tock Tick-Tock
@Nick Allen: it’s looking ominous something is going too break out any day
@ColmD:
Yes, you would expect something to happen alright. Kim is a nut job and so is the Don which makes it very worrying.
I think it’s very clear that North Korea doesn’t care about any sanctions, I’m sure the orange man on twitter will inform us on the next plan of action.
Every action has a reaction , go Korea duck the sanctions
They can use they’re midsole defence systems if they did fire one rather than risk a full scale war pm the strength of a potential attack , wmd in Iraq comes to mind . I’d say they will have the battle do , it’ll be the new Vietnam , Iraq , Syria
Crazy A$$ Mother our Kim Jong. Sticking two fingers up in the face of war. Pushing the the buttons literally and preverbally..
@The Viking: Why do the US and Japan, and anyone else think for one moment that Kim, takes any notice of them he is laughing at them sanctions mean nothing to him he is going to do what he wants, enough talking done go in and destroy him and his torturous regime or else STFU.
And they did this 20 seconds after Peter Cherrie got sent off??? Coincident??? I think not.
Poor fish (again) one day they will rise up against kim
Ah its all fake anyhow
POT…. KETTLE…. BLACK…… I wish them all the best with their Nuclear programme. I dont agree with how he treats his people, but maybe being taken seriously as a super power may advance their economy and be beneficial to improving korean society as a whole. He seems to be the only head of state with a set of big shiny balls. Maybe a lot more world leaders could follow his model and not be bullied by US and EU warlords.
Fire missiles will eventually break the country ie just like water meters here it’s fruit less task
It’s a perfect storm and when China’s leaders are seen as the most sensible,then the rest of us should worry
Nobody else can put pressure on the North Korean leadership.they are beyond the Pale.
These people need to be taken down a few pegs. It’s not acceptable what there at
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