North Korea Claims Latest Test Shows It Has a Missile That Can Reach U.S. Mainland
“With this system, we can load the heaviest warhead and strike anywhere in the mainland United States.”
On Wednesday, North Korea conducted a missile test for the first time since September. It was later revealed that this test included an intercontinental ballistic missile (IBM) called a Hwasong-15 that could reach the U.S. mainland. From The Wall Street Journal:
Hours after the launch, dictator Kim Jong Un declared that Pyongyang had “finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force,” according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. North Korea said the missile was fired from a mobile launch system, and that Mr. Kim personally oversaw the test.
From The Washington Post:
“With this system, we can load the heaviest warhead and strike anywhere in the mainland United States,” North Korea’s most famous newsreader, Ri Chun Hee, said in a special live broadcast on state television. “This missile is far more technologically advanced than July’s Hwasong-14. This signifies that our rocket development process has been completed.”
Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, had personally authorized the launch, Ri said, a photo of Kim at his desk and the handwritten order appearing on the screen.
The missile reached “a height of 2,796 miles and traveled 596 miles, demonstrating the potential to reach a range of 8,100 miles.” Physicist David wright said that the missile “would put any part of the U.S. comfortably within reach of a North Korean missile strike.”
Unlike the last two tests, North Korea didn’t shoot this one over Japan. Instead, it landed in the waters between North Korea and Japan “after flying on a lofted trajectory that took it deep into space before reentering the earth’s atmosphere.”
After the launch, China criticized North Korea, but asked other countries “to refrain from measures that would exacerbate tensions.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang didn’t really respond to a question about more sanctions, but promised that the country will “uphold the principles of stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping about the launch. From Reuters:
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said additional major sanctions would be imposed on North Korea after Pyongyang said it had tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile and that its nuclear weapons could reach the U.S. mainland.
“Just spoke to President Xi Jinping of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!” Trump wrote in a post on Twitter. He gave no other details about the sanctions.
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IBM ???
ICBM
ICBM
abbreviation
1.
intercontinental ballistic missile: a missile with a range greater than 5500 km
Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cite This Source
You used the 2012 Digital Edition.
The 2017 edition, which includes language for the likes of hank johnson and maxine waters. To ignoramuses like them, IBM means “inter ballistic missile.”
They don’t know what a “continent” is, anyway.
unless we show the ability to shoot down these missiles we and our allies will be at continuous risk and make the Iranians more likely to buy them and again pose a greater threat of a third world war – which will probably kill and maim more than the previous ones combined.
a man for the times ?
i certainly trump is.
No, no, no – not Donald Trump.
To defeat the nuclear menace of North Korea, we’ll have to trot out the likes of barry obama, mooooooochelle in 2020! obama, crazy nancy pelosi, gloria allred, madeline allbright, john kerry and bernie sanders: just a few of the Eisenhowers and Pattons of our time.
If it gets bad enough, we’ll have to even call out jimmy carter.
And if they actually attack, we’ll have to bring out our deadliest weapon: Milhouse.
Millhouse with “letterboard” them with long, obtuse diatribes and sometimes cutting personal insults, hoping that they will get tired and retreat in submission.
You mean like “Rocket Man”?
The problem with allowing the DPRK to continue its missile program to this extent is its close relationship with Pakistan and Iran. Pakistan was the test bed for nuclear weapons development which was later transferred to NK and Iran. DPRK and Iran are the missile development arms of that triumvirate. What anyone of them has, they all have. So, this missile is now available to Iran and Pakistan. Pakistan can not pursue significant missile development largely due to India. Considering the relations between the two countries, there is a very good chance that India would act militarily to stop any missile development or known missile deployment within Pakistan. But, missile delivery technology is critical if one wants to get the most deterrent effect out of possessing nuclear weapons. And, missile technology, by itself, is of limited value unless the possessor has a WMD payload to deliver. And, nukes are the most widely recognized WMD payload available. They are also easier to store than chemical or biological weapons.
So, now we have a scenario where three hostile actors have both nuclear payloads and the missile technology necessary to deliver them to a large part of the civilized world.
Having the lift capability and the ability to deliver a bomb are different things. Perhaps a year or two away.
In the meantime, attempting to shoot down a test missile and failing would be bad PR.
to do nothing is worse.
we are at edge of a chasm from which we can only surmise the bottom.
Muslims, especially the 12ers variety are the most dangerous nuts around – they do not fear death and their teachings are that the vanquished become their slaves in the after life –
not some prospect to be ignored or to wait a first strike.
better to apologize than ask permission is an old saw which is correct in the current situation.
we need another HST to win this war, is DJT up to it ????
You don’t shoot down the missile you destroy the launch site after the missile has flown, then throw in a couple of factories where parts are produced for good measure.
shooting down the missile is 1 step below destroying sites, which is a declaration war, while shooting down a missile is a warning.
Shooting something down is conceptually indistinguishable from, say, sinking a ship. Either is an act of war if someone wishes to interpret it as one.
Sorry, I just can’t get alarmed over anything to do with somebody who looks like a cross between the Pillsbury Doughboy and Gumby.
It just ruins that whole saber-rattling thing for me.
Yes, he should be vaporized for that haircut alone.
But vaporized, nonetheless. This guy is a maniac, and probably the most dangerous person on earth. Given his nuke capability and delivery ability – and his insanity – he could prove to be the greatest killer of human beings than hilter, stalin and mao combined.