North Korea test-fires ballistic missile ahead of G20 summit, says it could reach Alaska – UPDATE

North Korea test-launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Tuesday, South Korean and U.S. officials said, days before leaders from the Group of 20 nations are due to discuss steps to rein in Pyongyang’s weapons programmes.

The missile flew 930 kilometres (580 miles) before landing in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the South Korean military and Japanese government said. Tokyo strongly protested what it called a clear violation of UN resolutions.

UPDATE: The U.S. believes that North Korea tested the missile on Monday night. The information, according to CBS, was confirmed by official U.S. sources.

UPDATE: The international community must work harder on North Korea, British foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday, describing Pyongyang’s latest missile test as an example of the grave danger it poses to neighbouring countries.

“The international community must redouble its efforts to impose a price on this regime, which strains every nerve and sinew to build nuclear weapons and launch illegal missiles, even as the people of North Korea endure starvation and poverty,” Johnson said in an emailed statement.

UPDATE: Moscow and Beijing say that North Korea’s concerns are justified and they are calling on the United States to immediately halt the deployment of THAAD.

UPDATE: Russia and China have agreed a joint position on North Korea designed to defuse tensions around its missile programme and both want Washington to halt deployment of a missile shield in South Korea, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Moscow and Beijing had agreed on the need for a simultaneous freezing of North Korea’s missile and nuclear programme and large-scale military exercises by the United States and South Korea, the ministry said in a statement.

The statement was released after President Vladimir Putin held talks with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Kremlin.

UPDATE: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Tuesday called North Korea’s latest test launch of a ballistic missile a breach of a U.N. Security Council resolution, the RIA news agency reported.

It also cited Ryabkov as saying that tensions with Pyongyang risked leading to catastrophic developments and that the missile launch showed that the only way forward was to organise multilateral talks with North Korea.

UPDATE: North Korea appeared to use a Chinese truck originally sold for hauling timber to transport and erect a ballistic missile that was successfully launched on Tuesday, highlighting the challenge of enforcing sanctions to curb its weapons programme.

North Korea state television showed a large truck painted in military camouflage carrying the missile. It was identical to one a U.N. sanctions panel has said was “most likely” converted from a Chinese timber truck.

UPDATE: The missile launched by North Korea on Tuesday was an intermediate-range ballistic one and presented no threat to Russia, RIA news agency quoted Russia’s Defence Ministry as saying.

The missile reached an altitude of 535 km (334 miles) and flew around 510 km before falling in the central part of the Sea of Japan, the ministry said, citing its data.

UPDATE: China called on Tuesday for calm and restraint after North Korea launched a ballistic missile and U.S. President Donald Trump said perhaps China would “put a heavy move” on North Korea to “end this nonsense”.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said U.N. Security Council resolutions had clear rules on North Korea’s missile launches and China opposed it going against those rules. He was speaking at a daily news briefing.

UPDATE: North Korea said on Tuesday it successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which flew a trajectory that an expert said could allow a weapon to hit the U.S. state of Alaska.

UPDATE: The intermediate-range ballistic missile launched by North Korea on Tuesday “greatly exceeded” an altitude of 2,500 kilometres (1,560 miles), Japan’s Defence Ministry said.

UPDATE: U.S. President Donald Trump reacted on Twitter, writing that South Korea and Japan will not put up with this much longer and China could stop the nonsense.

North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017

….and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017

The U.S. Pacific Command said it detected and tracked the “single launch of a land-based, intermediate range ballistic missile” for 37 minutes near an airfield in Panghyon, about 100 km (60 miles) northwest of the North’s capital, Pyongyang.

North Korea said it will make a major announcement on Tuesday at 3:30 pm local time (0630 GMT), South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who convened a national security council meeting, said the missile was believed to be an intermediate range type, but the military was also looking at the possibility it was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

North Korea has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped ICBM capable of hitting the United States, ignoring repeated warnings from the international community.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday he will ask the presidents of China and Russia to play more constructive roles in efforts to stop the Pyongyang’s arms programme.

“Leaders of the world will gather at the G20 meeting. I would like to strongly call for solidarity of the international community on the North Korean issue,” Abe told reporters.

Japan said on Monday the United States, South Korea and Japan will have a trilateral summit on North Korea at the G20. China’s leader Xi Jinping will also be at the July 7-8 meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

North Korea has conducted four missile tests since South Korean President Moon Jae-in took office in May, vowing to use dialogue as well as pressure to bring Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes under control.

White House officials said Trump has been briefed on the latest launch, which took place hours before Independence Day celebrations in the United States. North Korea has previously fired missiles around this holiday.

INTERMEDIATE-RANGE MISSILES

Pyongyang has conducted missile-related activities at an unprecedented pace since the start of last year. Analysts say it is years away from having a nuclear-tipped ICBM.

But Pyongyang is also trying to develop intermediate-range missiles capable of hitting U.S. bases in the Pacific. The last North Korean launches before Tuesday were of land-to-sea cruise missiles on June 8.

David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said the assessments of the flight time and distance suggest the missile might have been launched on a “very highly lofted” trajectory of more than 2,800 km.

The same missile could reach a maximum range of roughly 6,700 km on a standard trajectory, Wright said in a blog post.

“That range would not be enough to reach the lower 48 states or the large islands of Hawaii, but would allow it to reach all of Alaska,” he said. (Graphic on North Korea’s missile capabilities http://tmsnrt.rs/2t0oSv7)

North Korea is banned from testing or developing missiles under a series of U.N. resolutions.

It has conducted nuclear and missile tests to show defiance in the face of international pressure and to raise the stakes when Pyongyang sees regional powers getting ready for talks or sanctions, analysts say.

South Korea’s Moon said on Monday in a meeting with former U.S. president Barack Obama that North Korea now faces its “last opportunity” to engage in talks with the outside world.

Earlier this week, North Korea was a key topic in phone calls between U.S. President Donald Trump and the leaders of China and Japan. Leaders of both Asian countries reaffirmed their commitment to a denuclearised Korean Peninsula.

Trump has recently suggested he was running out of patience with China’s modest steps to pressure North Korea.

In his meeting in Washington on Friday with Moon, Trump called on regional powers to implement sanctions and demanded that North Korea “choose a better path and do it quickly”.