Kim was pictured laughing and joking with officials as he hailed the missile launch “the greatest success”.
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In a photo distributed on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016, by the North Korean government, a missile is launched at an undisclosed location in North Korea.
North Koreans are also quick to point out that, although their country has received military assistance in the past from the Soviet Union and China, which helped it stave off the US during the 1950-53 Korean War, it no longer has any foreign troops based on its soil.
The submarine North Korea deployed for the test launch of SLBMs is believed to be the 2,000-ton Sinpo-class submarine, modeled after Soviet submarines from the ’90s, according to Yonhap. Ibrahim also said the United States is expected to present a draft statement.
Pyongyang’s KCTV aired brief footage shot from different camera angles, showing the missile soaring from underwater, igniting and surging nearly vertically into the air.
North Korea has “joined the front rank of the military powers fully equipped with nuclear attack capability”, and the US mainland is now within North Korea’s striking range, he said.
The official further said, “The missile soared as much as it flew”. Amid the increasing likelihood of North Korea’s SLBMs becoming a real threat, the controversy about the military efficacy of deploying THAAD with USA forces in South Korea is expected to be reignited. In the smaller picture, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and air force commander Ri Byong-chol laugh and smoke while watching the launch.
“I do not guess what ridiculous remarks the US and its followers will make about this test-fire, but I can say their rash acts will only precipitate their self-destruction”, Kim reportedly said. “The best way of escaping the deadly strike of the infuriated KPA [Korean People’s Army] is to refrain from hurting the dignity and security of [North Korea] with prudence and self-control”.
China is stepping up its opposition to the planned US deployment of the advanced ground-based missile defense system called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, in South Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves to those involved in a missile test-fire. “This was likely a KN-11 ballistic missile”, an anonymous official stated, adding that the United States had detected its launch from the submarine and tracked its trajectory.
The tests have had a patchy record of success. “The SLBM [Submarine-launched ballistic missile] test-fire was successfully carried out without any adverse impact on neighboring countries”. The SLBMs that North Korea tested on April 23 and July 9 only flew about 30 km and 10 km, respectively.
According to the country’s official news agency KCNA, Kim supervised the test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
“North Korea launched one SLBM at 5:30 a.m. from an area near Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, in the direct of the East Sea”, the joint chiefs statement read. In order for an SLBM to succeed, a missile is required to have a range of 300 kilometers, a requirement the North surpassed by 200 kilometers Wednesday.
The latest launch was widely condemned.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the missile launch, “in defiance of the united call of the global community to reverse its course, is deeply troubling”, according to U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
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“Not only are such actions a clear violation of relevant Security Council resolutions, but they also undermine peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula”, he said, urging North Korea to return to denuclearization talks.
