RT.com
17 Mar 2023, 18:14 GMT+10
The test comes amid the largest joint US-South Korean military drills in several years
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says his country has no choice but to show its strength in order to "deter war," following its latest long-range missile test, which he claimed was a response to the ongoing "reckless" US-led war games in the region.
After personally overseeing a test of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday, Kim said the launch again proved the "operating systems of the nuclear strategic forces." According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, the weapon traveled just over 1,000km and reached an altitude of 6,045km before plunging into the sea.
The leader "stressed the need to strike fear into the enemies, really deter war and reliably guarantee the peaceful life of our people and their struggle for socialist construction by irreversibly bolstering up the nuclear war deterrent," as cited by KCNA, adding that Washington and Seoul are showing "open hostility towards the DPRK" by staging "reckless" and "large-scale" military drills on the Korean Peninsula.
Thursday's ICBM launch marked North Korea's third major weapons test this week, and was carried out as the US leads a massive round of exercises with the South. Dubbed 'Freedom Shield', the drills kicked off on Monday and are set to continue into next week, with officials saying they are the largest joint drills held by the two allies in five years, involving both simulated and live-fire elements.
Pyongyang went on to denounce the exercises as "provocative and aggressive," having repeatedly stated that it views such military activity as preparation for an attack. It voiced hopes that the ICBM test would send "a stronger warning to the enemies intentionally escalating the tension in the Korean Peninsula," while Kim vowed to "react to nuclear weapons and frontal confrontation in kind."
The missile launch also came as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol prepared to travel to Japan for a meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, where they planned to discuss a security partnership with Washington. The three-way pact is aimed at countering alleged "threats" from North Korea and China. Yoon ordered the South Korean military to continue the joint drills with the US, and said Pyongyang would be punished for its "reckless provocations."
The US later "strongly" condemned the ICBM test, with National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson saying that while the launch posed no threat to the US or its allies, it "needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region."
(RT.com)
Get a daily dose of Japan Herald news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Japan Herald.
More InformationBEIJING, China: Following the inability of China Huarong Asset Management Co Ltd to release financial reporting obligations in 2020, China ...
BLUE MOUNTAINS, Sydney, NSW, Australia - A search in the Blue Mountains for a man that was launched on Sunday ...
BERLIN, Germany: Germany will send a cabinet minister to visit Taiwan next week, at a time when Berlin is reviewing ...
HANOI, Vietnam: SpaceX, Netflix and Boeing will join what is described as the "biggest-ever" U.S. business mission to meet in ...
TAIPEI, Taiwan: Reuters reported that after winning an order to manufacture wireless AirPods earphones for Apple for the first time, ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The US government has charged exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui with being the mastermind behind a complex conspiracy ...
BEIJING, China: Following the inability of China Huarong Asset Management Co Ltd to release financial reporting obligations in 2020, China ...
ZURICH, Switzerland - Depositors will be fully protected, shareholders will have their equity dwarfed, while bond holders will be largely ...
HANOI, Vietnam: SpaceX, Netflix and Boeing will join what is described as the "biggest-ever" U.S. business mission to meet in ...
TAIPEI, Taiwan: Reuters reported that after winning an order to manufacture wireless AirPods earphones for Apple for the first time, ...
TAIPEI, Taiwan: The founder of chip manufacturer TSMC, Morris Chang, said that he supports the efforts of the US to ...
MOSCOW, Russia: State run news agency TASS has reported that Russia's Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said that Japanese ...