A woman walks past a television screen showing file footage of North
Korea's missile launch at a railway station in Seoul on February 12,
2017. PHOTO | JUNG YEON-JE | AFP.
North Korea said Monday it had successfully
tested a new ballistic missile, triggering a US-led call for an urgent
UN Security Council meeting after a launch seen as a challenge to
President Donald Trump.
The North's
leader Kim Jong-Un "expressed great satisfaction over the possession of
another powerful nuclear attack means which adds to the tremendous might
of the country", state news agency KCNA said.
The
missile was launched Sunday near the western city of Kusong and flew
east about 500 kilometres (310 miles) before falling into the Sea of
Japan (East Sea), South Korea's defence ministry has said.
Photos
released by KCNA showed the missile blasting into the sky with a
smiling Kim watching from the launch site's command centre, surrounded
by dozens of cheering soldiers and scientists.
WARNING TIME
It
said Kim "personally guided" preparations for Sunday's test, which it
described as a surface-to-surface medium long-range Pukguksong-2, a
"Korean-style new type strategic weapon system".
KCNA said the missile was powered by a
solid-fuel engine — which requires a far shorter refuelling time than
conventional liquid fuel-powered missiles, according to Yun Duk-Min of
the state-run Institute for Foreign Affairs and Security in Seoul.
"They
leave little warning time and therefore pose greater threat to
opponents," he said, adding that such missiles are harder to detect
before launch by satellite surveillance.
The
announcement was the first time a Pukguksong-2 has been mentioned,
although the North last August test-fired what it said was a
submarine-launched missile marked as a Pukguksong-1, a name which
translates as the "North Star".
STRIKING RANGE
Kim
said at the time that the missile, which was launched towards Japan,
put the US mainland and the Pacific within striking range.
But the North has previously made claims for its weapons capabilities that analysts consider unconvincing.
The
South has said that the latest launch, the first such test since last
October, was designed as a test for Trump, who responded to the
provocation by pledging "100 percent" support for Washington's key
regional ally Japan.
"Today's missile
launch... is aimed at drawing global attention to the North by boasting
its nuclear and missile capabilities", Seoul's defence ministry said
Sunday.
"It is also believed that it
was an armed provocation to test the response from the new US
administration under President Trump," it added.
UN SANCTIONS
The
United States, Japan and South Korea responded to the North's
confirmation by requesting an urgent UN Security Council meeting to
discuss the launch.
The council is expected to hold consultations on Monday.
Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose country would be in range of a hostile
North Korean missile launch, called the test "absolutely intolerable"
during an impromptu press conference with Trump in Florida on Sunday.
North Korea is barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology.
But
six sets of UN sanctions since Pyongyang's first nuclear test in 2006
have failed to halt its drive for what it insists are defensive weapons.
NUKE ATTACK
Last
year the country conducted two nuclear tests and numerous missile
launches in its quest to develop a nuclear weapons system capable of
hitting the US mainland.
South
Korea's acting president Hwang Kyo-Ahn vowed a "corresponding
punishment" in response to the launch, which came on the heels of a
visit to Seoul by US Defence Secretary James Mattis this month.
Mattis had warned Pyongyang that any nuclear attack would be met with an "effective and overwhelming" response.
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