The US has confirmed that North Korea tested a long-range missile which some experts believe could reach Alaska.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called it a “new escalation of the threat” and warned that Washington “will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea”.Pyongyang claimed on Tuesday to have successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
However, most experts believe that the North does not yet have long-range nuclear weapon capabilities.
In response the US and South Korea conducted a joint military exercise on Wednesday.
A statement by the two countries’ militaries warned that “self-restraint, which is a choice, is all that separates armistice and war” and that their drills showed “we are able to change our choice”.
The two Koreas are technically still at war as the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice.
Mr Tillerson said “global action is required to stop a global threat” and warned that any nation that provided economic or military benefits to the North, or failed to fully implement UN Security Council resolution, was “aiding and abetting a dangerous regime”.
The US has asked for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the issue. A closed-door session of the 15-member body is expected later on Wednesday.
What is an ICBM?
• A long-range missile usually designed to carry a nuclear warhead
• The minimum range is 5,500km (3,400 miles), although most fly about 10,000km or more
• Pyongyang has previously displayed two types of ICBMs: the KN-08, with a range of 11,500km, and the KN-14, with a range of 10,000km, but before 4 July had not claimed to have flight tested an ICBM. It is not clear what differentiates the Hwasong-14
What has North Korea said?
State news agency KCNA quoted leader Kim Jong-un as saying the test was a “gift” to the Americans on their independence day.
The report warned of the possibility of more tests, saying he ordered officials to “frequently send big and small ‘gift packages’ to the Yanke
Pyongyang said earlier the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) had reached an altitude of 2,802km (1,731 miles) and flew 933km for 39 minutes before hitting a target in the sea.
North Korea, it said, was now “a full-fledged nuclear power that has been possessed of the most powerful inter-continental ballistic rocket capable of hitting any part of the world”.
The launch, the latest in a series of tests, was in defiance of a ban by the UN Security Council. – BBC
