A council meeting later on Wednesday was requested by the United States and Japan.
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North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, says his country’s latest missile tests have given the country the capability to attack United States interests in the Pacific, including Guam.
The first missile launched is believed to have malfunctioned, like the previous four failed attempts.
The United Nations Security Council ordered strict sanctions on North Korea for carrying out those tests.
That ability would back up years of threats and boasts from North Korea and has always been a worry for the United States and its allies, Tokyo and Seoul.
Wednesday’s second launch ended a recent run of unsuccessful attempts to test the Musudan missile, which is created to fly more than 3,000 km (1,800 miles) and could theoretically reach all of Japan and the US territory of Guam.
On Thursday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said that the latest test of what it calls the Hwasong-10 medium long-range strategic ballistic missile, known as Musudan in the outside world, was successfully carried out with leader Kim Jong-un in attendance.
Kim guided the firing early Wednesday of a Musudan midrange missile from a mobile launcher, according to a North Korean state media report.
The UN security council, with the support of the North’s main diplomatic ally China, imposed new sanctions in March after Pyongyang conducted its fourth nuclear test and launched a long-range rocket.
A statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the suspected first Musudan launch Wednesday from the east coast city of Wonsan failed.
Tokyo expressed heightened concern about the military threat as the missile flew the longest distance to date for a Musudan.
Five of the North’s six suspected Musudan launches failed, many exploding in midair or crashing.
“Had it been fired at its normal angle, it would have flown to its full range”.
North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile into high altitude Wednesday, demonstrating that the country was making progress after five consecutive failures in just over two months, analysts said. They didn’t pose a threat to North America, it said.
Although the missiles are created to reach targets 3,000 kilometers apart, many assure that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has been able to learn from its launch mistakes in the past.
China, the North’s top diplomatic and economic patron, warned against a violation of global resolutions banning its use of ballistic technology, calling for restraint.
“They must have been working extremely hard and to a given time frame in order to make it work”, said Yang, who is also a policy adviser to the South Korean military. The North Korean delegation reportedly did not offer a response to the Musudan issue.
South Korea called the missile test a clear provocation “against us” and urged Pyongyang to exercise restraint. The nations taking part had participated in years of negotiations on North Korean nuclear disarmament that stalled in 2008.
The string of recent launch attempts shows the North is pushing hard to upgrade its missile capability in defiance of US -led worldwide pressure.
Three failures in April were seen as an embarrassment for North Korea’s leadership, coming ahead of a rare ruling party congress that was meant to celebrate the country’s achievements.
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“The North Korean ballistic programme is a serious threat to regional and worldwide peace and security”.
