North Korea fired what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that landed close to Japan on Wednesday, officials said, Pyongyang’s first test launch since sending a missile over its neighbor in mid-September.
North Korea fired the missile a week after U.S. President Donald Trump put North Korea back on a U.S list of countries that Washington says support terrorism. The designation allows the United States to impose more sanctions, although some experts said it risked inflaming tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under its leader, Kim Jong Un, in defiance of U.N. sanctions. Trump has vowed not to let North Korea develop nuclear missiles that can hit the mainland United States.
Of the latest test missile, Trump told reporters at the White House: “It is a situation that we will handle.”
Trump said the launch did not change his administration’s approach to North Korea, which has included new curbs to hurt trade between China and North Korea, which it sees as important to deterring Pyongyang from its ambition to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States.
Washington has said repeatedly that all options, including military ones, are on the table in dealing with North Korea, but that it prefers a peaceful solution by Pyongyang agreeing to give up its weapons programs.
“Diplomatic options remain viable and open, for now. The United States remains committed to finding a peaceful path to denuclearization and to ending belligerent actions by North Korea,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.
Other than carrying out existing U.N. sanctions, “the international community must take additional measures to enhance maritime security, including the right to interdict maritime traffic” traveling to North Korea, Tillerson said in a statement.
The United States and Japan said the early Wednesday launch appeared to be an ICBM.
Japan’s government estimated that the missile flew for about 50 minutes and landed in the sea in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Japanese broadcaster NHK said. A North Korean missile on Aug. 29 was airborne for 14 minutes over Japan.
Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said the missile reached an estimated altitude of 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) and broke up before landing in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. He said it was judged to be ICBM class given its lofted trajectory.
With Reuters report