Before the first botched attempt took place on the birthday of North Korean founding father Kim Il-sung, two mobile launcher-loaded Musudan missiles were detected near Wonsan on the east coast.
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“Although more often than not they fail in these tests, they gain knowledge each time they engage in these tests”, he added.
The projectile fired from a North Korean northeastern coastal town crashed a few seconds after liftoff, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said, requesting anonymity because of office rules. It would be its fifth nuclear test. The North has fired many missiles and artillery shells into the sea in recent months in an apparent protest against the drills.
Pyongyang has hailed a series of achievements in recent months, including miniaturising a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile, developing a warhead that can withstand atmospheric re-entry and building a solid-fuel missile engine.
Pyongyang on Sunday announced the test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
“The government strongly condemns this additional ballistic missile launch… which is a clear violation of United Nations resolutions and an act of provocation”, the foreign ministry in Seoul said in a statement.
Musudan missiles have a potential range of about 3,500 kilometers (2,180 miles), which would put US military bases in Guam within their striking distance. North Korea is also pushing to develop a nuclear-armed long-range missile capable of reaching the USA mainland, but South Korea believes it does not yet possess such a missile.
“Although, more often than not, they fail in many of these tests, they gain knowledge each time”, Obama said.
“Should it push ahead with another nuclear test, this would be very serious provocative behavior that would shake the security order of Northeast Asia and we can never condone it”, she added.
The UN Security Council responded with its toughest sanctions to date, angering the North, which has since made repeated threats of attacks targeting the South and the United States.
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There are reports that North Korea is preparing to test a mid-range missile that could hit US assets in Asia and may also be readying another nuclear bomb test before the Workers’ Party congress begins in May.
