NK missile launch ‘dashes peace hopes’
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NORTH Korea fired a ballistic missile into waters off its east coast yesterday, its second missile test in a week. South Korea said the move dashed the hopes of its new liberal government for peace between the neighbors.
A South Korean military official said the missile appeared to be an upgraded, extended-range version of North Korea’s solid-fuel submarine-launched missile. The missile fired a week ago was liquid-fueled, and flew further.
North Korea has defied all calls to rein in its nuclear and missile programs, saying the weapons are needed for self-defense.
It has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the US mainland. On Saturday, it said it had developed the capability to strike the US mainland, although Western missile experts say the claim is exaggerated.
An official traveling with US President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia said the White House was aware of the latest launch and noted that the missile had a shorter range than the three previous missiles North Korea had tested.
The two missile tests in a week complicate plans by South Korea’s new President Moon Jae-in to seek ways to reduce tension on the peninsula. Moon took office 12 days ago after winning an election on a platform of a more moderate approach to North Korea, with which South Korea is still technically at war since no peace treaty was signed at the end of their 1950-1953 conflict.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said the tests were “reckless and irresponsible actions throwing cold water over the hopes and desires of this new government and the international community for denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the latest missile test was “a snub and a challenge to international efforts for a peaceful resolution.”
Abe told reporters after a meeting of Japan’s National Security Council that he wanted to raise the issue of North Korean missile launches at the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Italy this month.
Yesterday’s missile was launched from a location near Pukchang, 60 kilometers northeast of the capital Pyongyang, an area where North Korea attempted to test-launch another missile last month but failed, South Korea’s Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
“The flight range was 500 kilometers and South Korea and the United States are closely analyzing additional information,” it said.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missile landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone and no damage to ships or planes was reported.
On Saturday, North Korea’s KCNA state news agency, referring to the country as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, said in a commentary: “The US mainland and the Pacific operational theater are within the strike range of the DPRK and the DPRK has all kinds of powerful means for annihilating retaliatory strike.”
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