US vows stronger measures after North Korea’s launch of an ICBM
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NORTH Korea said yesterday that its newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) can carry a large nuclear warhead, triggering a call by Washington for global action to hold it accountable for pursuing nuclear weapons.
A spokeswoman for the US Defense Department said it had concluded that on Tuesday North Korea test-launched an ICBM, which some experts believe has the range to reach Alaska and the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the test, on the eve of the US Independence Day holiday, represented “a new escalation of the threat” to the United States and its allies, and vowed to take stronger measures.
The UN Security Council, currently chaired by China, was to hold an emergency meeting on North Korea yesterday, requested by the US, Japan and South Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the test completed his country’s strategic weapons capability that includes atomic and hydrogen bombs and ICBMs, the state KCNA news agency said.
Pyongyang will not negotiate with the US to give up those weapons until Washington abandons its hostile policy against North Korea, KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
“He, with a broad smile on his face, told officials, scientists and technicians that the US would be displeased ... as it was given a ‘package of gifts’ on its ‘Independence Day,’” KCNA said.
Kim ordered them to “frequently send big and small ‘gift packages’ to the Yankees,” it added.
In a phone call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, US President Donald Trump urged all countries to “stop hosting North Korean guest workers, and stop providing economic or military benefits to North Korea,” the White House said in a statement.
The missile launch came days before leaders from the Group of 20 nations are due to discuss steps to rein in North Korea’s weapons program, which it has pursued in defiance of United Nations Security Council sanctions.
The test successfully verified the technical requirements of the newly developed ICBM in stage separation, the atmospheric re-entry of the warhead and the late-stage control of the warhead, KCNA said.
A 2015 UN document estimated that more than 50,000 North Korean workers were overseas earning currencies for the government.
North Korea appeared to have used a Chinese truck, originally sold for hauling timber, but converted for military use, to transport and erect the missile on Tuesday.
Trump’s administration has said all options are on the table, military included, but suggested those would be a last resort and that sanctions and diplomatic pressure were its preferred course.
David Pressman, who served as deputy US envoy to the United Nations in the Obama administration, said the North Korean leadership seemed unaffected by UN Security Council condemnations.
Trump is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a G20 meeting in Germany this week.
On Tuesday, Russia and China joined diplomatic forces to call for North Korea to suspend its ballistic missile program in return for a moratorium on large-scale military exercises by the US and South Korea.
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the joint statement showed the international community wanted dialogue and not antagonistic voices, as he also urged North Korea not to violate UN Security Council resolutions.
“We hope relevant countries can maintain calm and restraint, and not take steps that might worsen tensions on the peninsula,” Geng told a daily briefing.
The US and South Korean militaries conducted a ballistic missile test early yesterday in a show of force on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. South Korea said the drill aimed to showcase the ability to strike at North Korea’s leadership if necessary.
Russia and China oppose any attempt to resolve the crisis by force or by strangling North Korea economically, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday.
“The task of the denuclearization of the entire Korean Peninsula cannot and should not be used as a disguise for attempts to change North Korea’s regime,” he said.
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