North Korea's latest missile launch appears to put Washington, DC, in range

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 6 years ago

North Korea's latest missile launch appears to put Washington, DC, in range

By Anna Fifield
Updated

Tokyo: North Korea's latest launch of an apparent intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday has experts calculating that the US capital is now technically within Kim Jong-un's reach.

The launch, the first in more than two months, is a sign that the North Korean leader is pressing ahead with his nation's stated goal of being able to strike the United States' mainland and is not caving in to the Trump administration's warnings. The missile logged a longer flight time than any of its predecessors.

North Korea's state media later confirmed the Kim Jong-un regime had successfully launched a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile, the "Hwasong-15" that could reach all of the US.

The missile was the North's most powerful ever, and it flew 950 kilometres for 53 minutes while reaching an altitude of 4475km, according to a broadcast statement.

The test launch of a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile in Pyongyang, North Korea, in August.

The test launch of a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile in Pyongyang, North Korea, in August.Credit: AP/File

"We will take care of it," US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House after the launch. He called it a "situation we will handle."

Trump has repeatedly said that military options are on the table for dealing with North Korea, suggesting that time has run out for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear problem.

A growing chorus of voices in Washington is calling for serious consideration of military action against North Korea, although this is strongly opposed by South Korea, where the Seoul metropolitan region - home to 25 million people - is within the range of North Korean artillery.

And Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said "diplomatic options remain viable and open, for now." He added: "The United States remains committed to finding a peaceful path to denuclearisation and to ending belligerent actions by North Korea."

Advertisement
A man watches a TV screen showing a local news program reporting North Korea's missile launch at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul on Wednesday.

A man watches a TV screen showing a local news program reporting North Korea's missile launch at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul on Wednesday.Credit: AP

North Korea said it would make an "important" announcement later in the day following the launch, the state-run radio station said on Wednesday afternoon.

The missile's trajectory and its landing off the coast of Japan suggests it was fired almost straight up - on a lofted trajectory similar to North Korea's two previous intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, centre, presides over a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the latest missile launch on Wednesday.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, centre, presides over a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the latest missile launch on Wednesday.Credit: AP

The Pentagon said that the projectile did indeed appear to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. The latest missile "went higher, frankly, than any previous shot they've taken," US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said. He described the launch as part of an effort to build missiles "that can threaten everywhere in the world."

If it had flown on a standard trajectory designed to maximise its reach, this missile would have a range of more than 13,000km, said David Wright, co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis at the White House after the latest North Korean missile launch.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis at the White House after the latest North Korean missile launch.Credit: AP

"This is significantly longer than North Korea's previous long-range tests, which flew on lofted trajectories for 37 minutes and 47 minutes," Wright said. "Such a missile would have more than enough range to reach Washington, DC."

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to reporters  on Wednesday. The missile landed in waters off Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to reporters on Wednesday. The missile landed in waters off Japan.Credit: AP

The US capital is 11,024km from Pyongyang. The previous long-range test, in July, could have flown 10,460km were it not on a lofted trajectory, experts said.

Although it may be cold comfort, it is still unlikely that North Korea is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.

Scientists do not know the weight of the payload the missile carried, but given the increase in range, it seems likely that it carried a very light mock warhead, Wright said. "If true, that means it would not be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to this long distance, since such a warhead would be much heavier," he said in a blog post.

But the North Koreans still appear to be in the testing stage, rather than the operational one, said Markus Schiller, a German aerospace engineer who specialises in missiles.

"If they are serious about their missile program, they have to launch from time to time, and at different times of the day and in different weather," he said.

Schiller said that North Korea still has a way to go with its missile program. "Perhaps they can hit Washington, DC, with this, but they can't fight a war with it," he said.

The missile was launched just before 3am on Wednesday from the western part of North Korea.

Japan's Defence Ministry said that it landed in waters inside Japan's exclusive economic zone, off the coast of Aomori Prefecture. The coast guard told ships to watch for falling debris, and the Japanese government condemned the launch.

South Korea's military conducted a "precision strike" missile launch exercise in response, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The South Korean and Japanese governments both convened emergency national security council meetings, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said such launches "cannot be tolerated."

Although it was the first North Korean missile launch in more than two months, there had been signs that the North was making preparations. The Japanese government had detected radio signals suggesting that North Korea might be preparing for a ballistic missile launch, Kyodo News reported Monday, citing government sources.

Pyongyang has been working to fit a nuclear warhead to a missile capable of reaching the US mainland, a weapon it says it needs to protect itself from a "hostile" Washington. It has made rapid progress this year, firing two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July, the second of which was technically capable of reaching as far as Denver or Chicago, or possibly even New York.

A senior South Korean official said North Korea could announce next year that it has completed its nuclear weapons program.

"North Korea has been developing its nuclear weapons at a faster-than-expected pace. We cannot rule out the possibility that North Korea could announce its completion of a nuclear force within one year," Cho Myoung-gyon, the unification minister, who is in charge of the South's relations with the North, told foreign reporters in Seoul.

Kim opened 2017 with a New Year's address announcing that North Korea had "entered the final stage of preparation for the test launch of intercontinental ballistic missile."

After its most recent missile launch, an intermediate-range missile that flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido on September 15, North Korea said it was seeking military "equilibrium" with the United States as a way to stop American leaders from talking about military options for dealing with Pyongyang.

That was the second launch over Japan in less than three weeks and came less than two weeks after North Korea exploded what was widely believed to be a hydrogen bomb.

But despite an increase in tensions over the past two months, including a US Navy three-carrier strike group conducting military exercises in the sea between Japan and the Korean Peninsula, 74 days had passed without any missile launches by the North.

That was the longest pause all year, according to Shea Cotton, a research associate at the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California. The pause had raised hopes that North Korea might be showing interest in returning to talks about its nuclear program.

In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations late last month, Joseph Yun, the US State Department's special representative for North Korea policy, said that if North Korea went 60 days without testing a missile or a nuclear weapon, it could be a sign that Pyongyang was open to dialogue.

Loading

The US returned North Korea to a list of state sponsors of terrorism last week.

Washington Post

Most Viewed in World

Loading