North Korea’s latest missile test proves it soon will have an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US.
Experts say a North Korea n ballistic missile test conducted over the weekend was likely not the first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, capable of threatening North America — a test North Korean media has said could come at any time. But Sunday morning’s test launch, which came as U. S. President Donald J. Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Palm Beach, Florida, marks a significant step forward for North Korea’s ballistic missile program, including the reported use of more modern solid-fueled rocket engines that could make North Korean nuclear-capable rockets more difficult to track and target on the ground.
The test , as well as Trump’s muted response to the provocation, are likely the first moves in a longer game of brinkmanship that will play out over the next several months between the new U. S. president and a North Korea reportedly very close to rounding out its missile arsenal with a long-range ICBM.
The missile launched Sunday morning — a so-called Pukguksong-2 — appears to have been an upgraded, extended-range version of a submarine-launched ballistic missile first tested successfully last year. Though the missile made a high arc before splashing down in international waters after traveling some 310 miles, some analysts place the likely maximum range of the missile at 1,870 miles (others estimate a shorter range of just 750 miles).
While such a missile falls far short of the range of the ICBM North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to develop, the new nuclear-capable missile could certainly threaten American regional allies like South Korea and Japan , as well as the roughly 80,000 U. S. troops stationed there. Moreover, the test demonstrated key technology pieces that place an ICBM within North Korea’s reach, said Tom Karako, a senior fellow with the International Security Program and the director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“I think that this particular test, while falling short of an ICBM demonstration, ought be seen as a technological advance,” Karako said. Unlike a liquid-fueled rocket that must be fueled on the launch pad, solid fueled rockets can be moved with the fuel already loaded, reducing launch preparation times and allowing them to launch quickly from mobile launch units.
Responding to the missile test, Trump and Prime Minister Abe issued a joint statement in which Abe called the launch “absolutely intolerable. ” Trump, not generally known for verbal restraint, made no direct reference to the launch at all but rather pledged “100 percent” support for Japan, calling it a “great ally. ”
The tenor of Trump’s remarks varied somewhat from his response to a fiery New Year’s Day address by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in which he suggested the country was nearing a test of a very-long-range ICBM.
