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North Korea claims new missile puts whole of US in strike range

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SEOUL/TOKYO: North Korea fired a missile on Friday that experts said was capable of reaching cities in the United States.


The US and South Korean military officials responded by discussing military options.


The unusual late-night launch added to exasperation in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo over North Korea’s continuing development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to deliver them.


North Korean President Kim Jong-Un’s military raised alarms early this month with an ICBM launch.


“As a result of their launches of ICBM-level missiles, this clearly shows the threat to our nation’s safety is severe and real,” said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who planned to call a meeting of his National Security Council. Following a meeting of South Korea’s National Security Council, South Korean President Moon Jae-In said he wanted the UN Security Council to discuss new and stronger sanctions against the North, the presidential Blue House said.


Moon also ordered discussions to be held with the United States on deploying additional THAAD anti-missile defence units, his office said.


The top US military official, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, spoke by phone with his South Korean counterpart, General Lee Sun-Jin, to discuss military response options to the launch.


Dunford and Admiral Harry Harris, commander of US Pacific Command who was also on the call, reinforced the US commitment to the alliance with South Korea.


The launch from North Korea’s northern Jangang province took place at 11:41 pm (1441 GMT), an official at South Korea’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missile flew for about 45 minutes before apparently landing in the waters of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.


Japanese broadcaster NHK, citing a military official, said the missile reached an altitude of more than 3,000 km. South Korean military said the missile was believed to be an ICBM-class, flying more than 1,000 km and reaching an altitude of 3,700 km.


In Washington, the Pentagon also said it had assessed that the missile was an ICBM.


Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies said the launch showed Los Angeles was within range of a North Korean missile, with Chicago, New York and Washington, just out of reach.


“They may not have demonstrated the full range. The computer models suggest it can hit all of those targets,” he said. The US-based Union of Concerned Scientists said its calculations showed the missile could have been capable of going as far into the United States as Denver and Chicago.


Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said the window for a diplomatic solution with North Korea “is closing rapidly.”


“The key here is that North Korea has a second successful test in less than one month,” he said. “If this trend holds, they could establish an acceptably reliable ICBM before year’s end.”


US President Donald Trump spoke with Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping about North Korea’s nuclear arsenal this month and has become frustrated that China has not reined in its ally Pyongyang.


Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said Friday’s launch had been expected and took place from Mupyong-ni, an arms plant in northern North Korea.


The European Union called it “an outright violation” of international obligations and a serious threat to international peace and security, and urged North Korea to engage in dialogue to pursue denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.


EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini would discuss the matter with the foreign ministers of South Korea and other partners at the Asean ministerial meeting in Manila on August 6-7.


The data on the trajectory indicate the missile was fired at a sharply lofted angle but packed more power than the missile launched on July 4 that US and South Korean officials said was an ICBM, potentially capable of hitting the US mainland. — Reuters


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