If the U.S. and its allies thought that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had been cowed by all the tough talk, stronger sanctions and the three aircraft carriers flexing military muscle in the region, the latest missile just punctured a giant hole in that premise.
The Pentagon confirmed the U.S. detected and tracked the launch of a single intercontinental ballistic missile about 1:17 p.m. Eastern Time, which is 3:17 a.m., Wednesday, Korea time. The missile was launched from Sain Ni, North Korea, and traveled roughly 600 miles eastward before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon added.
But it’s not how far the missile traveled horizontally, rather how high up it went that raises the stakes.
“It went higher, frankly, than any previous shot they’ve taken,” said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis speaking at the White House during a meeting with President Trump.
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported the missile reached an altitude of about 2,800 miles.
A quick draft chart to compare today’s missile test with previous #Hwasong launches this year. Will update when more info becomes available. #NorthKorea pic.twitter.com/mLOCB3ZqpJ
— Andrew Facini (@andrewfacini) November 28, 2017
Like previous tests the missile was shot basically straight up and down On a standard trajectory, it would travel much farther.
“This is a big deal,” says Joseph Cirincione of the Washington-based Ploughshares Fund. “It is their third successful ICBM test, with the longest potential range yet.”
Experts were quick to calculate that the range of the latest missile was long enough to reach the East Coast of the U.S.
“It appears to have the potential to go 13,000 miles, depending on the weight of the warhead,” Cirincione said. “That means it could hit the White House or any part of the United States. Their previous test demonstrated a capability to hit the West Coast and Mid-West.”
But there are still some significant unknowns.
“We do not know how heavy a payload this missile carried, but given the increase in range it seems likely that it carried a very light mock warhead,” David Wright physicist and co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security Program wrote in a web post.
“If true, that means it would not be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to this long distance, since such a warhead would be much heavier,” he said.
The Pentagon says it is still assessing data from the launch, but Mattis gave a grim early assessment
“The bottom line is it’s a continued effort to build a threat — a ballistic missile threat that endangers world peace, regional peace and certainly the United States,” Mattis said.
