{"id":26267,"date":"2016-06-22T03:17:09","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T03:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/north-korea-test-fires-musudan-ballistic-missiles\/"},"modified":"2016-06-22T03:16:19","modified_gmt":"2016-06-22T03:16:19","slug":"north-korea-test-fires-musudan-ballistic-missiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/north-korea-test-fires-musudan-ballistic-missiles\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea test-fires Musudan ballistic missiles"},"content":{"rendered":"

{In defiance of UN sanctions, Pyongyang carries out further tests of its intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missile.}<\/p>\n

North Korea has conducted back-to-back tests of a mid-range ballistic missile from its eastern coast, South Korean officials say.<\/p>\n

One test of the powerful Musudan intermediate-range missile made considerable improvements in flight distance and altitude over previous failed launches, but still fell well short of the missile’s projected range.<\/p>\n

Wednesday’s tests marked Pyongyang’s fifth and sixth attempt since April to successfully launch its Musudan missile.<\/p>\n

The first five launches failed, either exploding in midair or crashing, and the sixth only flew about 400km – well short of the missile\u2019s 3,500-km potential and not long enough to be classified as intermediate.<\/p>\n

One of the missiles launched on Wednesday reached an altitude of more than 1,000km, displaying marked progress in comparison with previous attempts, Japan’s defence minister said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“We don’t know whether it counts as a success, but North Korea has shown some capability with IRBMs,” Gen Nakatani told reporters in Tokyo. “The threat to Japan is intensifying.”<\/p>\n

The ongoing tests, apparently linked to an order made by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in March, show the North’s determination to pursue its goal of a nuclear missile programme capable of threatening the United States mainland.<\/p>\n

US condemnation<\/p>\n

Despite the repeated failures, North Korea’s persistence in testing the Musudan missile has worried Washington and its allies, Tokyo and Seoul. The missile’s range puts a large part of Asia and the Pacific, including US military bases, within reach.<\/p>\n

The US State Department condemned the launches on Wednesday, saying that they represented blatant violations of United Nations resolutions banning nuclear-armed North Korea from any use of ballistic missile technology.<\/p>\n

“We intend to raise our concerns at the UN to bolster international resolve in holding [North Korea] accountable for the provocative actions,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.<\/p>\n

And while US and North Korean diplomats were due to attend a six-nation security forum in Beijing on Wednesday – a rare opportunity for contact between the two powers – the State Department has said there were no plans for direct talks.<\/p>\n

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was quoted by national broadcaster NHK as saying such tests “cannot be tolerated”.<\/p>\n

South Korea’s Unification Ministry called the launches a “clear provocation” that violated UN Security Council resolutions banning any ballistic activities by North Korea.<\/p>\n

{{Rising tensions
\n}}<\/p>\n

Pyongyang conducted its fourth nuclear test in January, and later that month launched a long-range rocket that some say was a cover for a test of banned missile technology.<\/p>\n

The tests in January saw the UN Security Council impose its toughest sanctions to date on the North.<\/p>\n

North Korea has claimed a number of technical breakthroughs in recent months in its push to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear payload to targets across the continental US. But officials in South Korea say the North does not yet possess such a weapon.<\/p>\n

Recently claimed achievements include the creation of a solid-fuel missile engine, the development of a nuclear warhead capable of withstanding atmospheric re-entry, and the miniaturisation of a nuclear warhead.<\/p>\n

Experts outside the country have been sceptical of Pyongyang\u2019s claims, but have acknowledged that the North has made significant gains in improving its nuclear arsenal.<\/p>\n

The Korean Peninsula has remained in a technical state of war since the end of the Korean War in 1953, when an armistice brought an end to fighting but a peace treaty was never signed.<\/p>\n

The US has some 28,000 soldiers stationed in South Korea to deter any potential aggression from North Korea.<\/p>\n

\"North<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{In defiance of UN sanctions, Pyongyang carries out further tests of its intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missile.} North Korea has conducted back-to-back tests of a mid-range ballistic missile from its eastern coast, South Korean officials say. One test of the powerful Musudan intermediate-range missile made considerable improvements in flight distance and altitude over previous failed launches, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101],"byline":[2474],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-26267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-internationl","byline-al-jazeera"],"bylines":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26267"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=26267"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=26267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}