It was all fun and games the last few years when North Korea was launching missiles every couple of months and they would end in hilarious failure. But now North Korea is accelerating their launches of intermediate ballistic missiles and this is rather alarming. In 2017, North Korea had launched a ballistic missile every month. But Sunday’s missile launch is the second in a week. Pyongyang just launched a ballistic missile last weekend.
A senior Trump administration official has confirmed that North Korea launched a medium-range ballistic missile on Sunday afternoon.
“We are aware that North Korea launched an MRBM [medium-range ballistic missile],” the U.S. official said in a statement. “This system, last tested in February, has a shorter range than the missiles launched in North Korea’s three most recent tests.”
The U.S. Pacific Command released a statement on the North Korean missile launch.
Statement from @PacificCommand on #DPRK missile launch. pic.twitter.com/CvazjRSDgV
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) May 21, 2017
“U.S. Pacific Command detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean missile launch at 09:59 p.m. Hawaii time May 20. The launch of a medium-range ballistic missile occurred near Pukchang. The missile was tracked until it landed in the Sea of Japan.”
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was fired from an area about 50 miles northeast of Pyongyang.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, “North Korea launched an unidentifiable projectile to the East Sea (Sea of Japan) from Bukchang area in South Pyongyang Province at 16:49 today.”
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff statement continued, “The projectile flew 310 miles and ROK and U.S. are now analyzing its detailed [sic]. ROK military is closely monitoring North Korean provocative trends and maintaining highest military readiness.”
The missile was said to be a KN-15, which is a solid-fuel missile that was last tested in February. Despite the projectile only being a medium-range missile traveling 310 miles, it was still a worrying launch “because of the solid fuel missile technology used in the launch.”
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[ABCNews]