North Korea’s attempt to mark the anniversary of founding father Kim Il-sung’s birthday with another UN-defying missile launch ended in embarrassing failure on Friday, and drew strong criticism from the country’s closest ally China. The South Korean military had detected the North deploying one or two Musudan missiles near the east coastal city of Wonsan in the weeks leading up to Friday’s launch.
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North Korea demonstrated its bullheaded commitment to arms development Friday through what is thought to have been an attempted missile launch, and the country is not expected to ease up on such provocations before the Workers’ Party congress in May.
The weapon system most likely to be tested, known as the Musudan missile, cannot reach the continental United States, but “could potentially hit Guam and perhaps Shemya Island in the outer reaches of Alaska’s Aleutian chain”, according to American officials. Foreign experts have nicknamed the missile “Musudan” after the village in the northeast where North Korea has a launchpad. China, which signed onto the sanctions, called the failed launch “the latest in a string of saber-rattling that, if unchecked, will lead the country to nowhere”, the official Xinhua news agency said in an English commentary.
“It’s… a missile system that they’ve displayed on multiple occasions, and that is why we have a ballistic missile defense system that we have invested in very heavily to be able to outpace that threat as that threat develops further”, he added. North Korea has slammed these exercises, which it insists could trigger a nuclear war.
APPHOTO WX102: In this image provided by 38 North, shows a rail flatcar at radiochemical laboratory where North Korea separates weapons-grade plutonium from waste from a nuclear reactor.
The surge in belligerent rhetoric and nuclear and missile activity in the North may also be linked to leader Kim Jong Un’s preparations for a major ruling party meeting next month that analysts believe he will use to further solidify his autocratic rule.
North Korea’s latest missile test was confirmed by both the United States and South Korean militaries early this morning.
The nuclear-armed state has staged many short- and mid-range missile launches over the years but has yet to test the Musudan, which has an estimated range of anywhere between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometres (1,550 to 2,500 miles).
The 38 North website is maintained by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.
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The South’s military said on Thursday that there is a possibility the North will conduct its fifth nuclear test anytime now, as the North’s nuclear test site, Punggye-ri, in North Hamgyong has finished preparations.
