A pedestrian walks past a television screen broadcasting a news report on a North Korean missile launch, in Tokyo on December 18, 2023. A missile test fired by North Korea on December 18 was an intercontinental ballistic class with a potential range covering all of the United States, Japan said
Published December 19, 2023
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Monday test-fired its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile that has the potential to reach the United States, extending a record-breaking number of weapons tests this year and triggering further international condemnation.
South Korea said the North fired an ICBM that used solid fuel, which makes missiles easier to transport and faster to fire than liquid-fuelled versions.
Monday’s launch was the third time the North had tested a solid-fuel ICBM, after launches in April and July, which analysts said signalled consistent efforts to improve the technology.
North Korea had said the previous two were “Hwasong-18” missiles but did not immediately comment on Monday’s launch.
The United States, South Korea and Japan all quickly condemned the missile test, stating it was in breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions and would make the Korean peninsula less secure.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered an “immediate and overwhelming” countermeasure, and called for a joint response with the United States and Japan.
Japan’s defence ministry said the ICBM had a potential range of more than 15,000 kilometres, which would cover all of the United States. It followed a short-range missile launch on Sunday night.
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SOURCE: https://qa.philstar.com/world/2023/12/19/2319975/north-korea-test-fires-most-advanced-icbm-us-range
RELATED: China, North Korea hold high-level meeting amid missile launches
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during the opening ceremony of the diplomatic symposium at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Oct 24, 2023, in Beijing, China. (File photo: Ken Ishii/Pool via REUTERS)
Published December 19, 2023
BEIJING: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with a senior North Korean official in Beijing on Monday (Dec 18), coinciding with Pyongyang’s launch of a missile capable of reaching anywhere in the United States.
China always views its ties with North Korea from a strategic and long-term perspective, the foreign ministry said in a statement, citing Wang’s comments in the meeting with North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Pak Myong Ho.
Beijing is willing to strengthen two-way communication and coordination while deepening exchanges and cooperation, Wang added.
Wang and Pak exchanged views on issues of “common concern”, on which the ministry did not elaborate.
The meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere, Pyongyang’s state media KCNA said, North Korea’s ambassador to China Ri Ryong-nam was also present.
North Korea is officially China’s only ally. Both are bound by a treaty signed in 1961 to take all necessary measures, including military assistance, to help each other in the event of an attack or an attempted attack by a third country.
North Korea’s Monday missile launch came after the firing of a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday night.
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SOURCE: www.channelnewsasia.com
RELATED: North Korea fires ICBM after condemning US ‘war’ moves
Published December 19, 2023
SEOUL/TOKYO, Dec 18 (Reuters) – North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Monday that has a range to hit anywhere in the United States, said South Korea and Japan, marking its second launch in hours as Pyongyang condemned a U.S.-led show of force as “war” moves.
The missile has a potential to travel more than 15,000 km (9,300 miles), meaning it can reach anywhere in Japan and the mainland United States, Japan’s Parliamentary Vice Minister of Defence Shingo Miyake said.
The U.N. Security Council is due to meet on Tuesday at the request of the U.S. and other states to discuss the launch.
South Korea’s National Security Council said it was a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), labelling the launch a destabilising act that ignored international warnings and multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.
President Yoon Suk Yeol had ordered the upgrading of the effective operation of “nuclear deterrence” by South Korea and the United States, it added.
Coinciding with the North’s fifth ICBM launch of the year, China and North Korea held a high-level meeting in Beijing on Monday. Beijing, which is Pyongyang’s closest ally, reaffirmed a commitment to deepen cooperation and said discussions covered issues of “common concern”, without elaborating.
As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, China supported all resolutions imposing sanctions on the North up to 2017 for its weapons development, but has since refused to back further sanctions saying these would only raise tensions.
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SOURCE: www.reuters.com
