North Korea declared that on Sunday it successfully test fired a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that can reach U.S. targets.
The country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, observed the launch of a new medium long-range ballistic missile, called a Hwasong-12, which can be armed with “a large-size heavy nuclear warhead,” state-run Korean Central News Agency said on Monday.
The missile traveled reached an altitude of 1,312 miles and travelled 489 miles, the KCNA report said, before it landed in the Sea of Japan. Japan’s estimates were lower. U.S. officials say that is the closest a missile has gotten to Russia, CNN reported.
A statement from the White House press secretary late Sunday mentioned Russia repeatedly, saying that with the missile “impacting so close to Russian soil — in fact, closer to Russia than to Japan — the President cannot imagine that Russia is pleased.”
A analysis of the missile flight information by David Wright, co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists, seems to indicate that such a missile could reach as far as the U.S. territory of Guam, CNN reported.
So far the U.S. military has said, at least publicly, that North Korea still doesn’t endanger the U.S.
A U.S. Pacific Command spokesman said Sunday in a statement that the missile, launched from Kusung, landed in the Sea of Japan and that while it is assessing the type of missile used, its flight was not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command determined that the missile never posed a threat to the U.S.
The launched was condemned by newly sworn-in South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who said it was in violation of United Nations resolutions, Yonhap News Agency reported.
North Korea last test-fired a ballistic missile in late April. The U.S. military said it exploded mid-flight.
Trump took to Twitter to scold North Korea for disrespecting “the wishes of China & its highly respected President” with that launch. He added: “Bad!”
Just before that launch, and only two weeks after the previous failed attempt, Trump warned there is a chance of “a major, major conflict with North Korea.” The president said solving the North Korea problem without armed conflict would be preferable, but that it would not be easy. “We’d love to solve things diplomatically but it’s very difficult,” he said.
Trump later said he would be “honored” to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un under “the right circumstances.”
