The advanced United States missile defense system is believed to be capable of intercepting North Korea’s intermediate-range ballistic missiles if it is deployed in South Korea, Seoul’s defense chief said Friday, Yonhap News Agency reported.
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The indigenous Musudan missile, which North Korea refers to as the Hwasong-10, could theoretically reach USA troops based as far as Guam.
Concern that North Korea is getting closer to perfecting its ballistic missile technology heightened on Wednesday after it fired what appeared to be two intermediate range ballistic missiles.
At the same time South Korea and the United States condemned the launch as an unacceptable violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
“We’re warning North Korea that it’ll face even stronger sanctions if it ignores South Korea and the worldwide community’s warnings and goes forward with similar provocations”.
The first launch ended in failure. The second reached a high altitude in the direction of Japan before plunging into the sea about 400 km (250 miles) away, they said. “The test launch was successfully carried out without affecting our neighbors” safety in the slightest”, North Korea argued, implying that it had been mindful of Japan’s safety.
The missile launches did not post a threat to North America, said Commander Dave Benham, spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command. They didn’t pose a threat to North America, it said.
North Korea fired two missiles Wednesday morning from its eastern coast, according to South Korean and US officials.
Japanese investigators are examining a suspected nose cone of a rocket from an earlier North Korean rocket, which washed up on one of country’s beaches. Han said that North Korea could test-fire such missile or a submarine-launched missile in a bid to show off its military prowess. The order was an apparent response to springtime U.S. North Korea and its souther, democratic neighbor are still technically at war.
While neither missile has been flight tested, Wednesday’s Musudan test would provide valuable data for scientists working on the longer-range engines. Pyongyang says its rivals must negotiate with it as an established nuclear power, something Washington and Seoul refuse to do.
On Wednesday, the USA immediately condemned the launch and initially downplayed Kim’s claim of success.
“These provocations only serve to increase the global community’s resolve to counter (North Korea’s) prohibited activities, including through implementing existing U.N. Security Council sanctions”, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
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Though this is something of a milestone, North Korea still has to go through “various technical stages” in order to have a missile that could reach Japan or USA islands in the Pacific.
