The US has ramped up pressure on North Korea after Tuesday’s successful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test,
making a show of force off the Korean peninsula and warning that any
country harbouring North Korean workers was abetting Kim Jong-un’s
regime.
Officials in Seoul said the US-South Korean live-fire ballistic missile exercise early on Wednesday was intended as a warning to Pyongyang.
The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, said it would demonstrate the allies’ determination to counter North Korean provocations with deeds and not just words of condemnation. “We need to clearly show our missile defence readiness to North Korea,” the presidential Blue House said in a statement.
The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, called for global action to counter an “escalation of the threat” posed by the regime. He warned that any country that hosted North Korean workers, or provided economic or military aid to Pyongyang, or failed to implement United Nations sanctions was “aiding and abetting a dangerous regime”.
He said in a statement: “Testing an ICBM represents a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region, and the world. All nations should publicly demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to their pursuit of nuclear weapons.”
Kim Jong-un delivered his own message on Wednesday, with the state Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoting him as saying: “American bastards would be not very happy with this gift sent on the July 4 anniversary.”
The news agency claimed the North Korean missile was capable of carrying a “large, heavy nuclear warhead” that could survive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Kim was quoted as saying the North’s long confrontation with Washington had entered the “final stage” and that Pyongyang would not put its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles up for negotiation “unless the US hostile policy and nuclear threats come to an end completely”.
A report in its state media said Kim urged his scientists to “frequently send big and small ‘gift packages’ to the Yankees”.
The UN security council is expected to meet on Wednesday for an emergency closed-door meeting, with the US and other countries to seek agreement on tougher measures against Pyongyang.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are also expected to address growing North Korean provocations at their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg on Friday.
Officials in Seoul said the US-South Korean live-fire ballistic missile exercise early on Wednesday was intended as a warning to Pyongyang.
The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, said it would demonstrate the allies’ determination to counter North Korean provocations with deeds and not just words of condemnation. “We need to clearly show our missile defence readiness to North Korea,” the presidential Blue House said in a statement.
The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, called for global action to counter an “escalation of the threat” posed by the regime. He warned that any country that hosted North Korean workers, or provided economic or military aid to Pyongyang, or failed to implement United Nations sanctions was “aiding and abetting a dangerous regime”.
He said in a statement: “Testing an ICBM represents a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region, and the world. All nations should publicly demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to their pursuit of nuclear weapons.”
Kim Jong-un delivered his own message on Wednesday, with the state Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoting him as saying: “American bastards would be not very happy with this gift sent on the July 4 anniversary.”
The news agency claimed the North Korean missile was capable of carrying a “large, heavy nuclear warhead” that could survive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Kim was quoted as saying the North’s long confrontation with Washington had entered the “final stage” and that Pyongyang would not put its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles up for negotiation “unless the US hostile policy and nuclear threats come to an end completely”.
A report in its state media said Kim urged his scientists to “frequently send big and small ‘gift packages’ to the Yankees”.
The UN security council is expected to meet on Wednesday for an emergency closed-door meeting, with the US and other countries to seek agreement on tougher measures against Pyongyang.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are also expected to address growing North Korean provocations at their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg on Friday.
China is pushing for talks between world powers and North Korea on dismantling its nuclear program but the US maintains that Pyongyang must first halt its missile and nuclear tests. China and Russia have proposed that North Korea declare a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests while the US and South Korea refrain from large-scale joint military exercises.
Senior US and military officials accused North Korea of threatening the armistice that has maintained a shaky peace on the Korean peninsula since the end of the 1950-53 Korean war.
“Self-restraint, which is a choice, is all that separates armistice and war,” Gen Vincent K Brooks, commander of the US Forces Korea, and Gen Lee Sun-jin, chairman of the South’s joint chiefs of staff, said in a statement.
The South Korean Yonhap news agency quoted Lee as saying that South Korea and the US were maintaining “patience and self-restraint” despite the North’s repeated provocations.
Analysis by Japan and South Korea has supported the account given by North Korea’s Academy of Defence Science, which said the missile reached an altitude of 1,741 miles (2,802km) and flew 580 miles.
The US initially described it as an intermediate-range missile but now concedes it was an ICBM.
North Koreans have celebrated the ICBM launch in the capital, Pyongyang.
A 38-year-old Pyongyang resident named Ri Song-gil said his country “can attack anywhere in the world”. He added: “Now, the time when the US could threaten the world with nuclear weapons has passed away.”
Kim Hye-ok, 27, said the launch was “extremely delightful news”, adding that North Korea “will march forward along our own way” despite international sanctions.
David Wright, a US-based missile expert, estimated that the highly lofted missile could have a possible maximum range of 4,160 miles, which could put Alaska in its range if fired at a normal trajectory.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commanding officer of the British Armed Forces Joint Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Regiment, said that “in capability of missile terms and delivery, it is a major step up and they seem to be making progress week on week.”
Questions remain about whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nosecone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for it to survive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
KCNA said Tuesday’s launch had verified “all the technological requirements including heat resistance and structural stability of the re-entry nosecone”, which it said was made of carbon composite.
“Under harsh conditions involving thousands of degrees of heat, pressure and tremors, the temperature inside the nose cone was stable between 25-45 degrees Celsius,” it said, adding the warhead “flew flawlessly and struck the target precisely”.
Some experts believe the North already has the ability to mount warheads on shorter-range missiles that can strike South Korea and Japan, home to dozens of US military bases and about 80,000 US troops.
Jeffrey Lewis, an expert on nuclear non-proliferation, said the US may have to accept that North Korea was close to crossing the “red line” of developing a nuclear weapon that can threaten parts of the US.
“The window for negotiating denuclearization is closed,” Lewis said. “The big point is that we have to accept North Korea with a nuclear-armed ICBM.”
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