North Korea boasts missile landed just 7m from its target
North Korea has claimed its latest test
missile landed just seven metres from its target in Japanese waters amid
some bizarre threats and warnings by Kim Jong-un.
The ballistic missile launched on Monday
travelled 280 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan, which the state
called a success.
As a result, South Korea
conducted a join drill with a US supersonic B-1B Lancer bomber,
prompting the North’s dictator to claim the allied countries were
practising dropping nuclear bombs.
Kim Jong-un said the reclusive state would develop more powerful weapons to defend North Korea against
the United States, and state media quoted him as saying: ‘He expressed
the conviction that it would make a greater leap forward in this spirit
to send a bigger ‘gift package to the Yankees’ in retaliation for
American military provocation’.
President Trump tweeted about North Korea Monday, a day after from his first overseas trip
The missile launched on Monday was
equipped with an advanced automated pre-launch sequence compared with
previous versions of the ‘Hwasong’ rockets, North Korea’s name for its
Scud-class missiles, KCNA said.
That indicated the North had launched a modified Scud-class missile, as South Korea’s military has said.
The North’s test launch of a short-range
ballistic missile landed in the sea off its east coast and was the
latest in a fast-paced series of missile tests defying international
pressure and threats of more sanctions.
South Korea said it had conducted a joint drill with a US supersonic B-1B Lancer bomber on Monday.
Japan has also urged China to play a bigger role in restraining North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
Yachi told Yang that North Korea’s actions had reached a new level of provocation.
‘Japan and China need to work together to
strongly urge North Korea to avoid further provocative actions and obey
things like United Nations resolutions,’ Yachi was quoted as telling
Yang in a statement by Japan’s foreign ministry.
A statement from China’s foreign ministry after the meeting made no mention of North Korea.
North Korea has claimed major advances
with its rapid series of launches, claims that outside experts and
officials believe may be at least partially true but are difficult to
verify independently.
A South Korean military official said the
North fired one missile on Monday, clarifying an earlier assessment that
there may have been more than one launch.
The test was aimed at verifying a new type
of precision guidance system and the reliability of a new mobile launch
vehicle under different operational conditions, KCNA said.
However, South Korea’s military and
experts questioned the claim because the North had technical
constraints, such as a lack of satellites, to operate a terminal-stage
missile guidance system properly.
‘Whenever news of our valuable victory is
broadcast recently, the Yankees would be very much worried about it and
the gangsters of the south Korean puppet army would be dispirited more
and more,’ KCNA cited leader Kim as saying.
