If North Korea’s test of its longest-range missile in five years was not worrying enough, the state’s official media released images showing the Earth it said were taken in space from a rocket designed to deliver a nuclear warhead.
Images of the weekend launch of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile were splashed on the country’s biggest newspaper yesterday.
The photographs were taken “by a camera installed at the missile warhead” and released by the country’s Academy of Defense Science, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The veracity of the images has not been independently verified.
The missile North Korea fired on Sunday reached a height of about 2,000km, Japan and South Korea reported, the highest apogee of any North Korean missile since 2017.
It has a range of about 4,500km, according to weapons experts, which means it could hit US military bases in Guam.
Pyongyang has so far released two images that appeared to be taken from a camera on the missile re-entry vehicle looking back at the planet, as well as images of the launch.
Weapons expert Ankit Panda said North Korea has previously shown images of the Earth from a missile, with the first time being in May 2017.
Panda, a senior fellow in the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in specialist publication NK News that the launch also marked the 13th flight test of a new rocket engine.
That technology was tested twice last month when North Korea launched a new maneuverable re-entry vehicle-equipped missile.
Prior to the Sunday launch, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had threatened to end his hiatus on tests of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles designed to deliver warheads to the US mainland that he put in place after 2017 to facilitate talks with then-US president Donald Trump.
North Korea has also resumed plutonium-producing operations at its main Yongbyon nuclear site last year, while satellite imagery showed it expanding a plant that enriches uranium for weapons.
Shin Beom-chul, a researcher at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, said the images indicated North Korea’s confidence in its technological capability to target Guam.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS