The United Nations Security Council will hold a closed-door meeting on Wednesday at the request of the United States and Japan to discuss North Korea’s latest missile launch, diplomats said.
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North Korea has fired a submarine-launched missile towards Japan, showing off the isolated country’s improved technological capability.
South Korea has responded to Pyongyang’s continued launches by agreeing to deploy a sophisticated USA anti-missile system – known as THAAD – a move that has seriously strained relations with North Korea’s main diplomatic ally, China. The U.S. Strategic Command statement said the launch did not pose a threat to North America, but the U.S. military “remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations”.
A proven submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) system would take its nuclear strike threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a “second-strike” capability in the event of an attack on its military bases.
The South Korean military reportedly regards the test launch as basically being a success.
North Korea, which has conducted several nuclear weapons tests in recent years, is banned from firing weapons under UN Security Council sanctions. The most recent KN-11 launches – three in the a year ago – were all deemed failures because the missiles exploded at launch or traveled only a short distance.
The U.S. State Department also strongly condemned the missile test and urged the North “to refrain from actions and rhetoric that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps towards fulfilling its commitments and worldwide obligations”.
According to the South Korean and USA officials, North Korea released a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan.
The test showed the solid-fuel missile’s control and guidance system as well as the atmospheric re-entry of the warhead all met operational requirements, KCNA said.
North Korea has several land-based missiles with a range that puts them in reach of US bases in the region. On the left, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hugs one of the research scientists who developed the SLBM.
“The SLBM launched earlier in the day indicated [technical] improvements compared with the North’s previous tests”, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) were quoted as saying.
If the launch tube had been lowered to the ordinary angle, the missile could presumably have flown for more than 1,000 km.
A laughing Kim is also seen jubilantly celebrating with military aides in photographs printed by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper.
Analysts say the flight showed North Korea has made progress in its push to be able to strike USA forces throughout the region.
The test came just two days after South Korea and the USA kicked off joint Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) military drills on Monday, which will last until September 2.
Since the North’s leader took office in late 2011, North Korea has test-fired more than 30 ballistic missiles, including an intermediate-range Musudan missile, which theoretically can fly as far as the USA territory of Guam.
But at the current rate of development, it could be able to strike targets in the region by 2020, according to 38 North, a website run by the U.S. -Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
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They are estimated to have cost W120 billion, which experts say would have been enough to feed the North’s entire population for two months (US$1=W1,121).
