N. Korea fires ICBM, splashes in Sea of Japan

Washington : North Korea launched a missile that landed close to Japan yesterday, the first since a missile fired over its neighbour in mid-September, and the Pentagon said its initial assessment was that Pyongyang had tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

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.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Robert Manning said the Pentagon’s initial assessment was an ICBM launched from Sain Ni in North Korea and travelled about 1,000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan. The missile did not pose a threat to the United States its territories or allies, the Pentagon said. 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.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was fired from Pyongsong, a city in South Pyongan Province, at around 1817 GMT over the sea between South Korea and Japan. The South Korean military said the missile had an altitude of around 4,500 km and flew 960 km. Minutes after the North fired the missile, South Korea’s military conducted a missile-firing test in response, the South Korean military said. 

 Trump had traded insults and threats with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and warned in his maiden speech to the UN that he would have no choice but to “totally destroy” North Korea.