SEOUL: North Korea said Sunday its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test was meant to further bolster its “fatal” nuclear attack capacity and threatened additional powerful steps over upcoming military drills between the US and South Korea. The US responded by flying long-range supersonic bombers in a show of force later Sunday for separate joint exercises with South Korean and Japanese warplanes. Saturday’s ICBM test, the North’s first missile test since January 1, signals its leader Kim Jong Un is using his rivals’ drills as a chance to expand his country’s nuclear arsenal to get the upper hand in future dealings with theUS. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said its launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM was organised “suddenly” without prior notice at Kim’s direct order.
KCNA said the launch was designed to verify the weapon’s reliability and the combat readiness of the country’s nuclear force. It said the missile was fired at a high angle and reached a maximum altitude of about 5,770 kilometers (3,585 miles), flying a distance of about 990 kilometres (615 miles) for 67 minutes before accurately hitting a pre-set area in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Later Sunday, US B-1B bombers and other aircraft separately trained with South Korean and Japanese fighter jets over and near the Korean Peninsula. A South Korean military statement said Sunday’s training reaffirmed Washington’s “iron-clad” security commitmen to South Korea. In a statement Sunday, Kim Yo-Jong, the influential sister of Kim, accused South Korea and US of “openly showing their dangerous greed and attempt to gain the military upper hand and predominant position in the Korean Peninsula. ” “I warn that we’ll watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us,” she said.
KCNA said the launch was designed to verify the weapon’s reliability and the combat readiness of the country’s nuclear force. It said the missile was fired at a high angle and reached a maximum altitude of about 5,770 kilometers (3,585 miles), flying a distance of about 990 kilometres (615 miles) for 67 minutes before accurately hitting a pre-set area in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Later Sunday, US B-1B bombers and other aircraft separately trained with South Korean and Japanese fighter jets over and near the Korean Peninsula. A South Korean military statement said Sunday’s training reaffirmed Washington’s “iron-clad” security commitmen to South Korea. In a statement Sunday, Kim Yo-Jong, the influential sister of Kim, accused South Korea and US of “openly showing their dangerous greed and attempt to gain the military upper hand and predominant position in the Korean Peninsula. ” “I warn that we’ll watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us,” she said.