North Korea has claimed the missiles it launched on March 25 were a “new-type tactical guided projectile”, in its first statement since the test.
It was the country’s first ballistic launch in almost a year and the first since Joe Biden became US President.
President Biden has said the US will “respond accordingly”. The US, Japan and South Korea have condemned the tests.
Under UN Security Council resolutions, North Korea is banned from testing ballistic missiles.
North Korea’s statement on March 26, issued through state media outlet KCNA, says the two weapons struck a test target 373 miles off North Korea’s east coast, disputing Japanese assessments that they flew just over 240 miles.
It added that the new missile is able to carry a payload of 2.5 tons, which would make it capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
“The development of this weapon system is of great significance in bolstering up the military power of the country and deterring all sorts of military threats,” Ri Pyong Chol, the senior leader who oversaw the test, was quoted as saying.
President Biden told reporters that the launch was a violation of UN resolutions and that the US was consulting with partners and allies.
“There will be responses – if they choose to escalate, we will respond accordingly,” he said.
“But I’m also prepared for some form of diplomacy, but it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization.”
It remains unclear what exact type of missile the North Koreans have launched. State media said it had an “improved version of a solid fuel engine” and described it as a tactical guided missile that could perform “gliding and pull-up” maneuvers, which could mean it is harder to intercept.
However, the test highlights the progress North Korea’s weapons program has seen since denuclearization talks with the US stalled under former President Donald Trump.
Analysts have suggested the missiles were the same as the ones unveiled at a military parade in the capital Pyongyang in October 2020.
“If that is the case, they appear to have an improved variant of the previously tested KN-23 missile with a really big warhead,” Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) told Reuters.
Such a new missile would allow North Korea to put heavier nuclear warheads on its rockets, Vipin Narang, a security studies professor at MIT said on Twitter.
Developing miniaturized nuclear warheads is difficult, although some observers believe that North Korea has this capability already.
North Korea last fired ballistic missiles a year ago amid stalled relations between then-US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The Biden administration says it has unsuccessfully tried to make diplomatic contact with North Korea.
North Korea has yet to acknowledge that Joe Biden is now in office, and the two countries remain at loggerheads over the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
According to South Korea’s military, North Korea has fired two projectiles into the Sea of Japan.
The projectiles appeared to be
short-range ballistic missiles.
They were launched early on March 21
from Pyongan province towards the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.
North Korea launched multiple
missiles as part of firing drills earlier this month. The US and China have
called on North Korea to return to talks on ending its nuclear and missile
programs.
On March 21, South Korea’s Joint
Chief of Staff said it was monitoring the situation in case there are
additional launches.
It described the actions as
“extremely inappropriate” at a time when the world was dealing with
the Covid-19 pandemic.
The projectiles flew for 255 miles
with a maximum altitude of around 30 miles, the South Korean military said.
Japan’s coast guard confirmed a
missile had landed outside the waters of its exclusive economic zone.
It comes as North Korea announced it
would be holding a session of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the country’s
parliament, on April 19. Analysts say the meeting will involve almost 700 of
North Korea’s leaders in one spot.
There have been no reported cases of coronavirus in North Korea, though some
experts have cast doubt on this.
North Korea borders China, where the virus emerged, and South Korea, where
there has been a major outbreak.
A top US military official said last week he was “fairly certain”
there were infections in North Korea.
However, North Korea quarantined around 380 foreigners – mostly diplomats and staff in Pyongyang – in their compounds for at least 30 days. The restrictions were lifted at the beginning of March. Around 80 foreigners, mainly diplomats, were flown out of Pyongyang on March 9.
North Korea has accused Japan’s PM
Shinzo Abe of mislabeling its latest weapons test, branding him an “imbecile”
and “political dwarf”.
The Japanese prime minister
condemned North Korea for “repeated launches of ballistic missiles”
after two projectiles were fired on November 28.
However, North Korea insisted it was
testing a “super-large multiple-rocket launcher”.
On November 30, state media said
Japan “may see what a real ballistic missile is in the not distant
future”.
North Korea is banned from firing
ballistic missiles under UN Security Council resolutions.
It is under various sets of
sanctions over its missile and nuclear programs. Lifting the sanctions has been
a key aim of North Korea in talks with the US – Japan’s ally – but these have
stalled since a summit between its leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald
Trump broke down in February.
North Korea fired what observers in South Korea called two “unidentified projectiles” from its South Hamgyong province into the Sea of Japan on November 28.North Korea Launches New Ballistic Missile over JapanNorth Korea fired what observers in South Korea called two “unidentified projectiles” from its South Hamgyong province into the Sea of Japan on November 28.
Condemning the launch, PM Shinzo Abe
said: “North Korea’s repeated
launches of ballistic missiles are a serious defiance to not only our country
but also the international community.”
North Korea issued images said to be
of Kim Jong-un inspecting the launch.
The KCNA state media said on
November 30: “It can be said that
Abe is the only one idiot in the world and the most stupid man ever known in
history as he fails to distinguish a missile from a multiple launch rocket
system while seeing the photo-accompanied report.”
It added: “Abe may see what a real ballistic missile is in the not distant
future and under his nose. Abe is none other than a perfect imbecile and a
political dwarf.”
Negotiations between North Korea and
the US remain stalled since the collapse of February’s summit in Hanoi.
President Trump and Kim Jong-un did
meet again in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the Koreas in June and
agreed to restart working-level talks.
These began in October, but failed
to make any progress.
North Korea has demanded the US change its approach by the end of the year,
and was lukewarm in response to a tweet by President Trump hinting at another
meeting with Kim Jong-un.
In May, Shinzo Abe said he was ready to meet Kim Jong-un “without
conditions”, raising hopes of renewed negotiations on the nuclear issue as
well as on the lingering historical issue of North Korea’s abduction of
Japanese citizens.
The Japanese were kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and 80s to help
train its spies. Japan believes 17 citizens were abducted, only five of whom
have since been repatriated.
However, PM Abe’s offer has not come to fruition. North Korea said this month that the Japanese leader would never set foot in Pyongyang after he condemned an earlier weapons test.
North Korea tested two new missiles
on July 25, calling this action a “solemn warning” against what it
described as “South Korean warmongers”.
The short-range missiles were fired
into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, from Wonsan on North Korea’s
east coast.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un,
said his country was forced to develop weapons to “eliminate potential and
direct threats”.
Kim Jong-un said the test involved a
new tactical guided weapons system.
His comments, reported in state
media, come after North Korea criticized a decision by South Korea and the US
to hold military drills next month.
North Korea has long regarded the
drills as preparation for an invasion.
Though the US and South Korea have
refused to cancel the annual military exercises, they have been scaled back
significantly.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff
(JCS) said one of the new missiles traveled about 420 miles. The US also
confirmed that the missiles were “short-range”.
Kim Jong-un said he was
“satisfied” with the new weapons system’s response and claimed it
would “not be easy to defend against”.
The North Korean leader said that
South Korea should “not make a mistake of ignoring the warning”.
South Korea has urged the North to stop acts that are unhelpful to easing
tension and said the tests posed a military threat.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo downplayed concerns about the launch,
however, calling them a negotiating tactic.
He told Bloomberg Television: “Everybody
tries to get ready for negotiations and create leverage and create risk for the
other side.
“We want diplomacy to work. If it
takes another two weeks or four weeks, so be it.”
The test is the first since Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump met at
the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), an area that divides the two Koreas, on June 30.
The missile launch also comes after anger from North Korea over planned
military exercises between South Korea and the US, an annual event. North Korea
warned they could affect the resumption of denuclearization talks.
About 29,000 US soldiers are based in South Korea, under a security
agreement reached after the war ended in 1953.
In 2018, Kim Jong-un said North Korea would stop nuclear testing and would
no longer launch intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Nuclear activity appears to be continuing, however, and satellite images of
North Korea’s main nuclear site last month showed movement, suggesting the
country could be reprocessing radioactive material into bomb fuel.
North Korea also continues to demonstrate its abilities to develop new
weapons despite strict economic sanctions. Earlier this week Kim Jong-un
inspected a new type of submarine, state media reported, which could be
developed to carry ballistic missiles, according to some analysts.
In May, Pyongyang also conducted a similar short-range missile launch, its
first such test since its intercontinental ballistic missile launch in 2017.
President Trump responded then by saying he believed Kim Jong-un would not do
anything that could jeopardize his country’s path towards better relations.
Donald Trump tweeted that Kim Jong-un “knows that I am with him and does not want to break his promise to me”.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen a
“strike drill” testing various missile components on May 4, state
media has confirmed.
“A number of short-range projectiles” were also fired from the
Hodo peninsula into the Sea of Japan, the state media said.
Kim Jong-un gave the order of firing to “increase the combat
ability” of North Korea, the announcement said.
President Donald Trump tweeted he believed Kim Jong-un would not jeopardize
the path towards better relations.
He added that Kim Jong-un “knows that I am with him & does not want
to break his promise to me. Deal will happen!
President Trump tweeted on May 4: “Anything
in this very interesting world is possible, but I believe that Kim Jong-Un
fully realizes the great economic potential of North Korea and will do nothing
to interfere or end it.”
Donald Trump walked away from what he described as a bad deal offered by the
North Korean at a summit meeting in Hanoi in February.
In its report on May 5, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim
Jing-un had stressed the need to “defend the political sovereignty and
economic self-sustenance” of North Korea in the face of threat and
invasion.
The aim of the drill, which was testing “large-caliber long-range
multiple rocket launchers”, was to “inspect the operating ability and
the accuracy of striking duty performance,” the report said.
Kim Jong-un told troops to bear in mind “the iron truth that genuine
peace and security are ensured and guaranteed only by powerful strength”.
It is believed that latest test is intended to increase pressure on
Washington to move nuclear talks forward.
Last month, North Korea said it had tested what it described as a new
“tactical guided weapon”.
That was the first test since the Hanoi summit.
Analysts say a short-range solid fuel ballistic missile was fired on May 4,
making this the most serious test since North Korea fired an intercontinental
ballistic missile in November 2017.
However, the test does not violate North Korea’s promise not to test
long-range or nuclear missiles.
The crew of a Cathay Pacific flight from San Franscisco to Hong Kong flying over Japan reported a suspected sighting of last week’s North Korean missile test.
On November 29, North Korea launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile it said could reach anywhere in the US.
The test-launch raised tension further with South Korea and the US, who on December 4 began their largest ever joint air exercise, which North Korea has branded an “all-out provocation”.
Described by North Korea as its “most powerful” missile, the November 29 launch ended up in Japanese waters but flew higher than any other the North had previously tested.
According to the South China Morning Post, Cathay Pacific’s general manager of operations Mark Hoey told staff in a message that “today the crew of CX893 reported, <<Be advised, we witnessed the DPRK missile blow up and fall apart near our current location>>”.
The launch was reportedly also witnessed by two South Korean aircraft en route to Seoul from the US.
Unlike other countries, North Korea usually does not announce its missile tests which means they come without warning or known flight path, posing a potential risk to planes.
North Korea does have access to international civil aviation data so it can study the airspace before any launch.
While the risk of an incident remains very low, it is something that airlines are taking into consideration. In early August, Air France expanded their no-fly zone around North Korea after it transpired one of its planes flew close to a North Korean missile path.
The December 4 air exercise between the US and South Korea, called Vigilant Ace, will last for five days.
It will involve some 230 aircraft, including two dozen stealth jets, and tens of thousands of military personnel.
North Korea has condemned the drills, saying over the weekend that the US was “begging for nuclear war” and that it would “seriously consider” counter-measures to the exercises.
The US has urged the world to cut diplomatic and trade ties with North Korea following its latest ballistic missile test.
Speaking at the UN Security Council, US envoy Nikki Haley said President Donald Trump had asked his Chinese counterpart to cut off oil supplies to Pyongyang.
Nikki Haley said the US did not seek conflict but that North Korea’s regime would be “utterly destroyed” if war broke out.
The warning came after North Korea tested its first missile in two months.
North Korea said the missile fired on November 29, which it said reached an altitude of about 2,780 miles – more than 10 times the height of the International Space Station – carried a warhead capable of re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
The claim was not proven and experts have cast doubt on North Korea’s ability to master such technology.
However, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the launch “impeccable” and a “breakthrough”.
The test – one of several this year – has been condemned by the international community and the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting.
Nikki Haley warned that “continued acts of aggression” were only serving to further destabilize the region.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said sanctions were exhausted.
He told reporters: “The Americans should explain to all of us what they are trying to do – if they want to find a pretext for destroying North Korea they should come clean about it, and the American leadership should confirm it.”
Earlier the Russian UN ambassador said North Korea should stop its missile and nuclear tests but also called on Washington to cancel military exercises with South Korea planned for December as it would “inflame an already explosive situation”.
China also suggested North Korea should stop the tests in return for a halt to US military exercises – a proposal Washington has rejected in the past.
Nikki Haley said on November 29: “We need China to do more.
“President Trump called President Xi this morning and told him that we’ve come to the point where China must cut off the oil for North Korea.
“We know the main driver of its nuclear production is oil,” she said. “The major supplier of that oil is China.”
China is a historic ally and North Korea’s most important trading partner and Pyongyang is thought to be dependent on China for much of its oil supplies.
Also in the day, the White House said that President Trump spoke to his counterpart, Xi Jinping, by phone, urging him to “use all available levers to convince North Korea to end its provocations and return to the path of denuclearization”.
Donald Trump tweeted: “Just spoke to President XI JINPING of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!”
Speaking in Missouri, President Trump derided Kim Jong-un, describing him as a “sick puppy” and “little rocket man”.
Xi Jinping responded by telling Donald Trump it was Beijing’s “unswerving goal to maintain peace and stability in north-east Asia and denuclearize the Korean peninsula”, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
Experts say the height reached by the inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) indicates the US could be within range, although North Korea is yet to prove it has reached its aim of miniaturizing a nuclear warhead.
President Trump is due to meet with other world leaders at the G20 summit in Germany on July 7.
His comments follow those of US ambassador Nikki Haley, who told the UN Security Council that the US was willing to use its “considerable military forces” on North Korea “if we must”.
The US and South Korea have already stepped up military drills, firing missiles into the Sea of Japan in an apparent show of strength.
North Korea, however, said it would not negotiate over its missile program unless the US ended its “hostile policy” against Pyongyang.
Unless the US stopped its “hostile policy”, North Korea would “never put the nuke and ballistic rocket on the negotiating table”.
Due to the secretive nature of all of North Korea’s military activity, it is hard for experts to assess how close the country is to building a reliable ICBM.
On June 21, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged China to use more diplomatic pressure on North Korea “if they want to prevent further escalation in the region”.
China is seen as North Korea’s main ally and the US hopes Beijing can have greater influence on the totalitarian state to stop both its missile tests and nuclear program.
President Donald Trump has said he would like to solve the North Korea crisis diplomatically, but has previously warned that a “major, major conflict” is possible.
Tensions spiked once again last week when American student Otto Warmbier, who was serving a hard labor sentence in North Korea for stealing a propaganda sign, died shortly after returning home in a coma.
The US has also ramped up its military presence in the region, conducting drills with Japan as well as South Korea, and is installing a controversial missile defense system in South Korea, known as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD).
However, South Korea recently said it was suspending the further deployment of the system until an environmental assessment was completed.
It stressed the importance of North Korea “immediately showing sincere commitment to denuclearization through concrete action”.
The UN Security Council is now scheduled to meet behind closed doors on May 23 – a meeting requested by the US, South Korea and Japan.
South Korea’s foreign ministry earlier said the launch was “reckless and irresponsible”, while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described it as “disappointing” and “disturbing”.
The latest missile flew about 350 miles towards the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Last week’s missile travelled about 435 miles.
Japanese news agencies said the missile probably fell into the sea outside Japan’s waters.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference a protest had been lodged with North Korea.
South Korea said the latest test was conducted in Pukchang, in the west of the country. A missile exploded soon after take-off from Pukchang last month.
Earlier on May 21, North Korea’s state-run media had said it would continue to launch more “weapons capable of striking” the US.
In early May, the US said a missile defense system it had installed in South Korea was now operational.
The THAAD system can intercept North Korean missiles, although full operational capability is still some months away. North Korea and its ally China have condemned the installation of the system.
However, there is no sign that THAAD was used against the missile tested on May 21.
Newly-installed South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who is seeking deeper engagement with North Korea, has convened an urgent meeting of his national security council in response.
North Korea’s latest missile test has been unanimously condemned by the UN Security Council, while warning of new sanctions.
In a statement, the 15-member Council demanded that North Korea conduct no further such tests.
Pyongyang earlier said the missile it had tested on May 14 was a new type of rocket capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead.
The missile traveled some 435 miles, reaching an altitude of 1,250 miles and landing in the sea west of Japan.
North Korea said it was a test of the abilities of a “newly developed ballistic rocket”.
South Korea’s military said it could not yet verify North Korea’s claims.
However, it said Pyongyang’s missiles did appear to be able to leave and re-enter the atmosphere, which is crucial to developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports.
In the statement on May 15, the UN Security Council stressed on the importance of North Korea “immediately showing sincere commitment to denuclearization through concrete action”.
North Korea should “conduct no further nuclear and ballistic missile tests”, it said.
The UN Security Council has imposed six sets of sanctions against North Korea since 2006.
North Korea’s KCNA state news agency said the test of a “newly developed mid/long-range strategic ballistic rocket, Hwasong-12” had gone to plan.
“The test-fire aimed at verifying the tactical and technological specifications of the newly developed ballistic rocket capable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead,” it said.
North Korea is known to be developing both nuclear weapons – it has conducted five nuclear tests – and the missiles capable of delivering those weapons to their target. Both are in defiance of UN sanctions.
However, it remains unclear whether it has the ability to make the weapons small enough to be mounted on a rocket, and it has never tested an ICBM which could reach, for example, the US.
ICBM’s are considered to have a range of about 3,750 miles, but analysts believe the missile tested on Sunday would have travelled about 2,500 miles if it had been fired at a standard trajectory rather than upwards.
The KCNA report said that, as ever, the test had been overseen by North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un.
It said Kim Jong-un had told the scientists and technicians involved “not to be complacent” but to build further “nuclear weapons and methods of delivery” until the US made “the right choice”.
South Korea’s military said it could not yet verify North Korea’s claims.
However it said North Korea’s missiles did appear to be able to leave and re-enter the atmosphere, which is crucial to developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the Yonhap news agency reported.
Repeated missile tests by North Korea this year – not all of them successful but all a breach of UN sanctions – have sparked international alarm and raised tensions with the US.
The US and Japan have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on May 16.
North Korea’s KCNA state news agency said on May 15 that the test of a “newly developed mid/long-range strategic ballistic rocket, Hwasong-12” had gone to plan.
“The test-fire aimed at verifying the tactical and technological specifications of the newly developed ballistic rocket capable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead,” it said.
North Korea is known to be developing both nuclear weapons – it has conducted five nuclear tests – and the missiles capable of delivering those weapons to their target. Both are in defiance of UN sanctions.
However, it remains unclear whether it has the ability to make the weapons small enough to be mounted on a rocket, and it has never tested a long-range ICBM which could reach, for example, the US.
ICBM’s are considered to have a range of about 6,000km, but analysts believe the missile tested on May 14 would have travelled about 4,000km if it had been fired at a standard trajectory rather than upwards.
The KCNA report said that, as ever, the test had been overseen by North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un.
It said Kim Jong-un had told the scientists and technicians involved “not to be complacent” but to build further “nuclear weapons and methods of delivery” until the US made “the right choice”.
In a statement on May 14, the White House said Pyongyang had been “a flagrant menace for far too long” and that this “latest provocation” should “serve as a call for all nations to implement far stronger sanctions”.
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said on May 14 that until Kim Jong-un meets the US conditions, “we’re not sitting down with him”.
South Korea’s newly elected President Moon Jae-in, who is seeking deeper engagement with North Korea, said it was a “reckless provocation”.
North Korea has carried out another failed missile launch, according to the South Korean military.
The launch of the intermediate-range missile is the second failed test in less than a week after North Korea’s recent launch of a Musudan missile, which has an estimated range of 2,500 miles.
The missile is said to be capable of hitting US bases as far away as Guam.
It has been tested eight times this year, with only one success.
However, experts fear it could become operational as early as next year.
The US condemned the launch, calling it a “further provocation”.
North Korea’s last test was denounced by the UN, which has banned it from any use of ballistic or nuclear technology.
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