North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hailed the latest test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile as the “success of all successes”, state media said Thursday, as the United Nations gears up to condemn the event that would likely beef up the country’s nuclear capabilities.
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Kim said the test-firing has proved the DPRK “joined the front rack of the military powers fully equipped with nuclear attack capability” and that the USA mainland and military bases in the Asia Pacific are now within the striking range of the DPRK’s military.
It would mean the North has mastered technology enabling it to produce a ballistic missile capable of flying across the Pacific to strike the USA mainland.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff statement said that the North was clearly bent on escalating tensions and said the SLBM test posed a “serious challenge” to security on the Korean peninsula.
The ballistic missile flew about 500 km and fell into the waters inside Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ, said South Korean local media.
‘He appreciated the test-fire as the greatest success and victory.
He said the United States is drafting the text of a press statement “and we will have a look at it”.
Diplomats say China, which has close ties to North Korea, has blocked council action or insisted on changes in previous proposed texts that were unacceptable to other members. “We are strengthening the capacity of Korean Air and Missile Defense through preparations to introduce a ballistic missile warning system”, said an official from South Korea’s Defense Ministry.
In Tokyo on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated opposition to the missile-defense system in South Korea, but echoed his diplomatic counterparts in saying that China “opposes development of North Korea’s nuclear program, and any words or deeds that create tensions in the peninsula”, according to The New York Times. Analysts say the flight showed North Korea has made progress in its push to be able to strike USA forces throughout the region.
South Korea’s military condemned the launch as an “armed protest” by North Korea against the start of annual South Korean-U.S. military drills, but acknowledged it was an improvement over previous tests of similar missiles.
The South Korean military had expected North Korea to be able to deploy SLBMs for combat use within two or three years, but some experts said that the latest launch could enable the North to move forward its deployment to as early as late this year.
Pyongyang’s January nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch in February resulted in the tightening of sanctions against North Korea in a new UN Security Council resolution adopted in March.
The United Nations Security Council will reportedly hold a closed-door meeting later on Wednesday at the request of the U.S. and Japan to discuss the missile launch.
The South Koreans did not comment on whether the test was successful.
Once again, Pyongyang threatened its rivals, in particular the “US imperialists” and the “South Korean puppet group”, which are now staging a joint military exercise “aiming at a preemptive nuclear strike at the DPRK with huge nuclear strategic assets involved”, according to the article.
Thursday marks the anniversary of the “Military First” policy initiated by Kim Jong Un’s father, the late Kim Jong Il, and the priority position the military continues to enjoy in North Korea was on full display. The range achieved by this launch means that much of South Korea now lies within striking distance.
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After the SLBM launch in April, North Korea claimed that it had successfully carried out a test on the operation of a detonator for a nuclear warhead.
