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20-02-2023
PYONGYANG: North Korea has said it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as a warning to the United States and South Korea, claiming the drill successfully demonstrated its capacity to launch a “fatal nuclear counterattack”.
The North Korean statement on Sunday came a day after it launched the Hwasong-15 into the sea off Japan’s west coast after warning of a strong response to upcoming military drills by the US and South Korea.
“The surprise ICBM launching drill … is an actual proof of the DPRK strategic nuclear force’s consistent efforts to turn its capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces into the irresistible one,” the state news agency KCNA said, using the abbreviation for the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, bristled at the US for trying to turn the UN Security Council into what she called a “tool for its heinous hostile policy” towards Pyongyang.
“I warn that we will watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us,” she said in a statement.
Saturday’s missile launch, North Korea’s first since January 1, came after Pyongyang threatened on Friday an “unprecedentedly persistent, strong” response as the US and South Korea gear up for annual military exercises as part of efforts to fend off Pyongyang’s growing nuclear and missile threats.
The state news agency said the missile had flown for 1 hour, 6 minutes and 55 seconds, as high as 5,768km (3,584 miles), before accurately hitting a preset area 989km (615 miles) away in open waters.
The Hwasong-15 was first tested in 2017.
Japan said on Saturday the missile had plunged into waters inside its exclusive economic zone.
‘Without warning’
Nuclear-armed North Korea fired an unprecedented number of missiles last year, including ICBMs capable of striking anywhere in the US, while resuming preparations for its first nuclear test since 2017. (Int’l News Desk)
