North Korea yesterday conducted what appeared to be its second failed test in a week of a powerful medium-range missile that experts say could be operationally deployed as early as next year.
South Korean and US military monitors said the missile — believed to be an intermediate-range Musudan — exploded shortly after takeoff on Wednesday at about 6:30am Pyongyang time.
The attempted launch came just hours before the start of the third US presidential debate — a timely reminder of the challenge North Korea’s fast-moving nuclear weapons program could pose to the next occupant of the White House.
Photo: EPA
It also followed a meeting in Washington between the US and South Korean defense and foreign ministers, at which US Secretary of State John Kerry said that any use of nuclear weapons by the North would be “met with an effective and overwhelming response.”
It was the second failed launch in less than a week of the Musudan, which has a theoretical range of anywhere between 2,500km and 4,000km.
The lower estimate covers the whole of South Korea and Japan, while the upper range would include US military bases in Guam.
The US and its two key Asian allies condemned the latest launch as a clear breach of UN resolutions banning the North from using ballistic missile technology.
“Our commitment to the defense of our allies, including the Republic of [South] Korea and Japan, in the face of these threats, is ironclad,” Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross said.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military was “fully prepared” for further provocations, while Japan vowed to “step up pressure” on North Korea.
The last Musudan test on Saturday was denounced by the UN Security Council, which is debating a fresh sanctions resolution against Pyongyang over its fifth nuclear test carried out last month.
The missile has now been tested eight times this year, but only once successfully.
A Musudan launched in June flew 400km toward Japan and was hailed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as proof of the North’s ability to strike US bases across “the Pacific operation theater.”
Despite the string of failures, some experts believe the missile is moving swiftly toward operational deployment.
John Schilling, an aerospace engineer specializing in rocket propulsion, said the aggressive launch schedule, while multiplying the risk of failure, also increases the information gleaned from each test.
“If they continue at this rate, the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile could enter operational service sometime next year — much sooner than had previously been expected,” Schilling wrote on the 38North Web site of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
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