All eyes on Trump-Xi summit after North Korean missile launch

Published April 5, 2017 11:11am ET



NORTH KOREA: North Korea’s launch of a suspected “Pukguksong-2” missile is just the sort thing that U.S. Strategic Commander Air Force Gen. John Hyten says keeps him up at night. The commander of America’s nuclear arsenal said that every time North Korea fires off another missile, three different U.S. commands scramble to figure out if it’s the big one: STRATCOM, NORTHCOM and PACOM.

Pacific Command issued the official statement last night declaring the test of a single KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile landed harmlessly in the Sea of Japan off North Korea’s east coast. But the test itself was anything but harmless. It appeared to be repeat of a Feb. 11 test of an upgraded submarine-launched missile, which shows North Korea can now launch a missile with solid fuel from the back of a mobile launcher.

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