North Korea's missile launch attempt 'presumed to have failed'

RT
Sat, 15 Apr 2017 23:52 UTC

© Sue-Lin Wong / Reuters

North Korea has tried, but allegedly failed, to conduct a new missile launch, according to South Korea's Joint Chief of Staff and US Pacific Command. The alleged botched launch comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula and a day after Pyongyang showcased its new sea based and intercontinental missiles.

"The communist state attempted to launch an unidentified missile from the port city of Sinpo on its east coast in the morning and the launch is presumed to have failed," the South Korean military said, according to Yonhap news.

The attempted missile launch has also been detected by the US military, which said it "blew up almost immediately" after the launch at 9:21pm GMT.

"US Pacific Command detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean missile launch at 11:21 a.m. Hawaii time April 15. The launch of the ballistic missile occurred near Sinpo," US Pacific Command spokesman Commander David Benham said. "The missile blew up almost immediately. The type of missile is still being assessed."

Reports of the failed launch came just hours before US Vice-President Mike Pence's scheduled arrival in South Korea; to begin his Asian tour offering security reassurances to its allies in the region.

On Saturday, as North Korea marked the 105th birth anniversary of its founding leader Kim Il-sung with a military parade in Pyongyang, the North for the first time publicly showcased its submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), as well as what appears to be a new type of ICBM.

"It's presumed to be a new ICBM. It seems longer than the existing KN-08 or KN-14 ICBMs," a South Korean military official told Yonhap, after the intercontinental ballistic missiles along with the Pukkuksong-2 SLBMs were paraded in front of the country's leader, Kim Jong-un.

Choe Ryong Hae - a close aide to Kim Jung-un, during his address to the soldiers - warned against any US provocations on the Peninsula, after US President Donald Trump repeatedly promised to "take care" of the North Korean issue over the past weeks.

"If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare," Choe said.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula has reached worrying heights amid concerns, fueled by media reports, that Pyongyang might be preparing new nuclear and ballistic missile tests - and that the US might decide to act unilaterally and conduct a pre-emptive or retaliatory strikes, just as it did against Syria on April 7.

Pyongyang has urged Washington to stop its "military hysteria" and come to its "senses" - or otherwise face a merciless response in case of "provocations" against North Korea. Washington sent the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group and other military hardware to the region in an apparent show of force and in preparation for "any possible scenarios."

Trump, however, has also been engaging with China, seeking its help to solve the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully. China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, warned that confrontation between the US and North Korea had escalated to such a point that "a military conflict may start at any moment."

Comment: North Korea refuses to confirm nor deny apparent missile test

The statement said that a missile test is North Korea's 'sovereign right', but declined to state whether one occurred this morning.

Russian journalists have received a statement from North Korea's Foreign Ministry regarding the country's supposedly failed missile test from early this morning.

The statement reads,

"There was a question concerning claims of our recent missile launch, but officially it has not been announced. Even if it look place, it's a normal process in the course of improving the ability of our country's nuclear deterrent forces, there is nothing surprising in it. Such things are not necessarily published in press".

The statement continued,

"Kim Jong Un in his New Year's speech indicated that the preparation of the test launches of ballistic missiles is already at the perfect stage, and we have repeatedly announced that at any time when our leader Kim Jong Un decides, we can then take such measures. Measures to enhance the nuclear armed forces are self-defence measures of our country and efforts to ensure peace and security on the Korean Peninsula. They are the legitimate rights of a sovereign state".