State broadcaster Korean Central Television aired footage of the Wednesday launch on Thursday, showing the missile taking-off from various angles for about two minutes.
Advertisement
North Korea is barred under United Nations resolutions from any use of ballistic-missile technology, but Pyongyang has carried out several launches following its fourth nuclear test in January.
Wednesday’s launch came two days after the USA and South Korea began their 12-day Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises, prompting North Korean threats of retaliation for the military drills, which it views as an invasion rehearsal.
North Korea’s exuberant reports came a day after a successful launch of an SLBM at around 5:30 a.m.in waters off Sinpo, in which a missile reached 500 kilometers (310.6 miles) before falling into waters controlled by Japan.
“North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats are not imaginary threats any longer, but they’re now becoming real threats”, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said of the launch.
“I hope to coordinate closely in order for Japan, China and South Korea to lead the efforts of the global community”, Kishida said.
Pyongyang had been threatening to vent its fury over the exercises – and over South Korea’s decision to host a US anti-missile unit – so Wednesday’s launch did not exactly come as a surprise.
The Security Council held a closed-door meeting late Wednesday to discuss the latest launch, but the debate was complicated by Chinese opposition to plans for the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system in South Korea, The Associated Press reported.
“The test-fire of the SLBM today is the success of all successes and the victory of all victories”, Kim was quoted as saying.
North Korea usually responds to regular South Korea-U.S. military drills with weapons tests and fiery warlike rhetoric.
The 300-mile range of the launch is further than any previous submarine-launched test.
If fired at the optimum angle and fully fuelled, it could travel over 1,550miles, the source said, which is less than a third of the distance to the American west coast. Ibrahim also said the United States is expected to present a draft statement.
While movement is underway at the multinational body to produce a statement that will unequivocally condemn Pyongyang, it is unclear whether the council will adopt it, considering China’s recent attitude.
Such images are used in North Korean propaganda in an effort to convince the populace, who have little, if any, access to outside information, that their impoverished and technologically backward country is strong and standing up to a United States that, the state media say, is trying to destroy North Korea. Pyongyang has denounced the drills as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion, which the two allies claimed to be defensive in nature.
Kim Jong Un’s comments were full of North Korea’s trademark hyperbole, but the facts on the ground are increasingly giving the erratic leader something to brag about. Though the atmosphere in Pyongyang was more festive than tense, convoys carrying troops to various gatherings have been speeding through the broad avenues of the capital all week.
Despite the price they pay in sanctions, officials sometimes cite the example of Libya, and the killing of strongman Moammar Gadhafi, as what happens to leaders who cave in to worldwide pressure to give up their nuclear ambitions.
Advertisement
North Korea already has a variety of land-based missiles that can hit South Korea and Japan, including US military bases in those countries.
