North Korea said Tuesday it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile — a watershed moment in its push to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the United States.
US experts said the device could reach Alaska, and the launch, which came as the United States prepared to mark its Independence Day, triggered a Twitter outburst from US President Donald Trump who urged China to “end this nonsense once and for all”.
The North has long sought to build a rocket capable of delivering an atomic warhead to the continental United States — something that Trump has vowed “won’t happen”.
Its possession of a working ICBM will force a recalculation of the strategic threat it poses.
The “landmark” test of a Hwasong-14 missile was overseen by leader Kim Jong-Un, an emotional female announcer said on state Korean Central Television.
It reached an altitude of 2,802 kilometers and flew 933 kilometers, she added.
The North was “a strong nuclear power state” and had “a very powerful ICBM that can strike any place in the world” she said.
Western countries doubt whether the North can miniaturize a nuclear weapon sufficiently to fit it onto a missile nose cone, or whether it has mastered the technology needed for it to survive the difficult re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
However, the communist country has made great progress in its missile capabilities since the ascension to power of Kim, who has overseen three nuclear tests and multiple rocket launches.
In response to the launch but before the announcement, Trump asked on Twitter: “Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?”
The United Nations has imposed multiple sets of sanctions on Pyongyang over its weapons programs, which retorts that it needs nuclear arms to defend itself against the threat of invasion.
Source: AFP
