A US think tank that monitors military activity in the communist country said the North still faces significant technological challenges in its SLBM program, including building a new class of submarine to carry the missile.
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After the recent test, Kim stressed that American and South Korean “rash acts will only precipitate their self-destruction”.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said North Korea’s defiance of the global community’s “united call” to reverse course was “deeply troubling”.
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon). South Korean army soldiers repel down a building during an anti-terror drill as part of Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise, at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016. South Korea and the United.
Most of those efforts were considered failures, including two other SLBMs, and analysts say the North is years away from developing a nuclear weapon that could reach the US mainland.
The 300-mile range of the launch is further than any previous submarine-launched test.
North Korea’s first successful test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on August 24 increases the likelihood that North Korea’s SLBMs will become a threat sooner than expected.
South Korean military officials said the test indicates that the missile could fly 2,500 km at an ordinary trajectory.
Kim Jong-un has declared North Korea’s latest missile launch “the greatest success”.
Kim is quoted as saying US bases in the Asia-Pacific region and the USA mainland are “now within the striking range” of its armed forces.
The U.N. Security Council called for a meeting on Wednesday afternoon in NY, hours after China, South Korea and Japan condemned the launch in Tokyo. After the launch Kim is seen smiling and being congratulated by the officers.
The latest one adopted in March imposes the most severe sanctions yet on the country, including an export ban and asset freeze.
“The U.S. commitment to the defense of our allies including the Republic of Korea and Japan in the face of these threats remains ironclad”, she said.
Japan confirmed the missile reached its air defence identification zone – a first for a North Korean missile.
Its 500-kilometer (310-mile) flight puts all of South Korea within its range if it is fired near the two countries’ border.
The Security Council was unable to condemn the launch of a missile by North Korea earlier this month that landed near Japan because China wanted the statement to also oppose the planned deployment of a USA anti-missile defense system in South Korea.
A North Korean nuclear test in January and a series of missile launches by Pyongyang have all been carried out in violation of Security Council resolutions.
The KCNA paraphrased Kim as saying that the successful test proved that North Korea has joined the “front rank” of military powers fully equipped with nuclear attack capability.
But in North Korea’s state media Thursday, the apparently successful launch was cause for major celebration. The projectile flew more than 18 miles before it exploded in midair.
But the North is “on track to the capability to strike targets in the region – including Japan – by 2020”, it said.
Takesada said North Korea needs to have at least four SLBM-armed submarines to successfully deploy SLBMs.
China said on Wednesday that it opposes the North’s nuclear and missile programmes.
Japanese Prime Minister Shizo Abe denounced the missile launch as an “unforgivable” threat to regional security, in remarks published in multiple media on Wednesday.
Pyongyang has vowed to continue with its ballistic missile program despite Security Council resolutions prohibiting it from using the technology.
“North Korea is likely to have already completed the development of SLBMs”.
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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.
