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 US mainland and military bases in the Asia Pacific are now within the striking range of the DPRK’s military.
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“There was a general sense of condemnation by most members of the council and therefore we will have to see how we would then be phrasing the press statement”, said Ramlan bin Ibrahim from Malaysia, which now holds the council’s presidency. Missile experts theorized that North Korea probably conducted some of its previous tests from a submerged barge, rather than from a submarine, releasing digitally altered photographs to exaggerate its missile technology for its home audience.
That means all of South Korea, and possibly parts of Japan, are within its striking distance.
On Wednesday, media reports emerged that Pyongyang had launched a ballistic missile from a submarine in the Sea of Japan. She said the missile launch marked the latest in an “accelerating campaign” of missile tests that violate multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.
North Korea already has a variety of land-based missiles that can hit South Korea and Japan, including US military bases in those countries.
But the Security Council failed to condemn the move after China sought to include language in a statement opposing the THAAD missile defence system that the United States plans to deploy in South Korea.
The North’s top newspaper Rodong Sinmun also carried 24 photos of him observing the launch, including one with his hands on his hips roaring with laughter at an observation post, and others watching through a pair of binoculars.
As the news of the missile test was broadcast on a large screen outside Pyongyang’s main train station Thursday, dozens of people stood in the rain to watch.
But the North has continued to launch ballistic missiles and tensions have mounted.
“I do not guess what ridiculous remarks the USA and its followers will make about this test-fire, but I can say their rash acts will only precipitate their self-destruction”, he was quoted as saying.
In this Thursday, July 28, 2016 file photo, protesters hold the portraits of the former South Korean sex slaves who were forced to serve for the Japanese military in World War II, during a rally against the establishment of the Japanese government-funded Reconciliation and Healing Foundation in Seoul, South Korea.
It quoted a military source as saying that the projectile – which was sacked at a higher angle – could have traveled more than 1,000 kilometers if it had been launched from a regular angle.
The secretary-general called on North Korea “to take steps necessary to de-escalate the situation and return to dialogue on denuclearization”, he said.
But the North is “on track to the capability to strike targets in the region – including Japan – by 2020”, it said.
South Korean officials say that all previous such missiles North Korea had launched flew only a short distance, too brief to be considered successful.
North Korea has conducted a spate of military technology tests this year, including a fourth nuclear test in January and numerous ballistic missile launches, in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions that were tightened in March.
The supreme leader strongly slammed the ongoing military drills jointly carried out by South Korea and the Untied States and threatened to “deal merciless blows with nuclear hammers”, once an opportunity is given.
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The launch came just two days after Seoul and Washington kicked off their joint annual war games, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG).
