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Ammon News - North Korea has tested a long-range ballistic missile that is theoretically capable of striking anywhere on the US mainland, Japan officials said, in the regime’s first round of missile tests for about a month.

The missile appeared to have flown about 1,000km (620 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of more than 6,000km before landing in the sea east of the Korean peninsula on Monday.

Shingo Miyake, Japan’s parliamentary vice-minister of defence, said the missile could have a range of over 15,000km, depending on the trajectory and size of the warhead. “In which case the whole of the US territory would be within the range,” Miyake said, adding that authorities would need to confirm the missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

“Based on the flying distance and the maximum altitude of the ballistic missile launched this time, we think it is an ICBM-class ballistic missile, but we are analysing further details,” he said.

The projectile appeared to have fallen into the sea outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone off the northernmost main island of Hokkaido after flying for 73 minutes. There have been no reports of damage to aircraft or ships in the area.

The launches posed a threat to North Korea’s neighbors, a US state department spokesperson said. “These launches, like the other ballistic missile launches Pyongyang has conducted this year, are in violation of multiple United Nations security council resolutions,” the spokesperson said.

North Korea has tested several ICBMs that are capable, in theory, of reaching targets anywhere in the US, although some experts believe the regime has yet to perfect the technology that would enable the missiles to carry multiple nuclear warheads over such long distances.

Observers said the North’s back-to-back launches were likely to be a protest against moves by South Korea and the US to bolster their nuclear deterrence plans in the face of Pyongyang’s growing nuclear threat.


The Guardian