U.S. defense officials had “high confidence” Tuesday afternoon that North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, according to a report.
The new assessment, reported by CNN, revises an earlier statement by U.S. Pacific Command that the test launch on Monday involved an intermediate range missile and will likely deepen concerns that North Korea is closer to having a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.
The regime says it successfully tested a Hwasong-14 ICBM, which was tracked by the U.S. before falling into the Sea of Japan.
The launch was a landmark development in North Korea’s missile program, which seeks to develop long-range nuclear weapons to strike the U.S., and threatened to spark a crisis on the Fourth of July.
President Trump issued a series of tweets Monday night following the launch that questioned whether Japan, South Korea and China would move to stop Kim Jong Un’s regime.
“North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?” Trump wrote.
On Tuesday, Russia and China reached a joint agreement in Moscow challenging Trump over the missile launch.
North Korea should cease its missile program and the U.S. should remove its missile shield and halt large-scale joint military exercises with South Korea, the two nations said following joint talks.
