North Korea missile test fails again
North Korea fired what appeared to have been an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Thursday but it crashed seconds after the test launch, South Korea’s defence ministry said.
A defence ministry official told Reuters that the launch from near the North Korean east coast city of Wonsan appeared to have been of a Musudan missile with a range of more than 3 000 km, at about 06:40 local time (21:40 GMT).
Isolated North Korea has conducted a flurry of missile launches and tests of military technology in the run-up to a rare congress of its ruling Workers’ Party that is set to begin on 6 May.
Thursday’s apparent failure, however, marks another setback for young leader Kim Jong Un.
A similar missile launched on the 15 April birthday of his grandfather and the country’s founder, Kim Il Sung, exploded in what the US Defence Department called a “fiery, catastrophic” failure.
South Korea also says the North is ready to conduct a nuclear test at any time. It would be its fifth nuclear test.
The defence ministry official, who declined to be identified by name, said South Korean and US officials were analysing the cause of the missile crash, declining to comment on why the launch was revealed hours after it took place.
The South’s Yonhap News Agency said the fired missile was not detected by South Korean military radar because it did not fly above a few hundred metres, and was spotted by a US satellite.
The South Korean defence ministry told Reuters it could not confirm that report.
On Saturday, North Korea tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile, which travelled about 30 km off its east coast.
NAMPA/REUTERS
A defence ministry official told Reuters that the launch from near the North Korean east coast city of Wonsan appeared to have been of a Musudan missile with a range of more than 3 000 km, at about 06:40 local time (21:40 GMT).
Isolated North Korea has conducted a flurry of missile launches and tests of military technology in the run-up to a rare congress of its ruling Workers’ Party that is set to begin on 6 May.
Thursday’s apparent failure, however, marks another setback for young leader Kim Jong Un.
A similar missile launched on the 15 April birthday of his grandfather and the country’s founder, Kim Il Sung, exploded in what the US Defence Department called a “fiery, catastrophic” failure.
South Korea also says the North is ready to conduct a nuclear test at any time. It would be its fifth nuclear test.
The defence ministry official, who declined to be identified by name, said South Korean and US officials were analysing the cause of the missile crash, declining to comment on why the launch was revealed hours after it took place.
The South’s Yonhap News Agency said the fired missile was not detected by South Korean military radar because it did not fly above a few hundred metres, and was spotted by a US satellite.
The South Korean defence ministry told Reuters it could not confirm that report.
On Saturday, North Korea tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile, which travelled about 30 km off its east coast.
NAMPA/REUTERS
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