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North Korean Missile Test Fails, South Korea Says North Korea Fires 2nd Missile After Earlier Test Fails
(about 3 hours later)
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile off its east coast on Wednesday, but the test ended in a failure, the South Korean military said. It was the fifth consecutive such failure in the North’s attempt to demonstrate a capacity to launch a ballistic missile that would extend its striking range. SEOUL, South Korea — After five consecutive failures, North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Wednesday, advancing its efforts to extend its striking range to target American military bases in the Pacific.
The Musudan missile was launched from a site near Wonsan, a port city east of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, at 5:58 a.m. Wednesday, the South’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The projectile, a Musudan missile, took off from Wonsan, a port city east of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, and flew about 250 miles before crashing into the sea between North Korea and Japan, South Korea’s Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
It said the South Korean military considered the test to have been a failure, but it provided no further details. Although the missile fell far short of its estimated full range of more than 2,000 miles, the test was the only one of the Musudan that the United States or South Korea did not immediately dismiss as a failure.
At 8:05 a.m., North Korea launched another Musudan, the office said. The second missile flew about 250 miles, it said. It did not confirm whether the test was a success or failure. South Korea said that the North’s previous five Musudan tests — the fifth took place earlier Wednesday — had all failed, with the projectiles crashing into the sea or exploding midair soon after liftoff.
The United States military’s Strategic Command said the two Musudan missiles appeared to have fallen into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The advance the North showed with its sixth test was disconcerting enough for South Korea to convene a meeting of top security-related ministers on Wednesday to discuss the growing missile and nuclear threats.
The missiles posed ‘‘no threat” to the United States, Commander Dave Benham, a spokesman for the United States Pacific Command in Hawaii, said. Jeong Joon-hee, a spokesman for the South Korean government, called the launch a “clear provocation” that violated United Nations Security Council resolutions banning the North from developing ballistic missile technology.
The United States condemned the launches as violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions, Commander Benham added. In Washington, John Kirby, a State Department spokesman, said that the United States strongly condemned the tests and intended to discuss the North’s prohibited activities at the Security Council.
North Korea has test-fired the Musudan six times since April. But at least five of those tests have failed, with some of the projectiles crashing into the sea or exploding in midair shortly after liftoff, according to American and South Korean officials. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said that the tests were “utterly unforgivable,” according to The Associated Press.
North Korea’s missiles have seldom worked on the first try, but a string of five successive failures is unusual even by the North’s checkered standards. Analysts have attributed the failures to the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un. In his rush to demonstrate an ability to strike American military bases in Guam with nuclear and chemical weapons, Mr. Kim was giving his engineers hardly enough time to fix the problems before testing the Musudan again, the analysts said. South Korea did not immediately classify the sixth launch as a success or failure, saying it was still analyzing the test. Officials were also trying to determine whether the North had deliberately shortened the missile’s flight in order not to provoke Japan, the South Korean national news agency Yonhap reported.
The North has successfully tested its short-range Scud and midrange Rodong missiles. The Rodong can reach all of South Korea and most of Japan. The Musudan — a road-mobile missile with a range of more than 2,000 miles, — was first tested on April 15. When North Korea fired its midrange Rodong missile from an inland launch site toward the sea off its east coast in March, the missile flew 500 miles, less than its normal range of 620 to 810 miles.
The failed Musudan tests followed Mr. Kim’s repeated calls to his military to conduct more nuclear and missile tests despite international sanctions. The United States Strategic Command said that the two Musudan missiles fired on Wednesday posed no threat to North America.
But North Korea’s persistence in testing the same missile six times since mid-April showed that it was determined to build a capacity to launch a ballistic missile that would extend its striking range.
The North has successfully tested its short-range Scud and midrange Rodong missiles. The Rodong can reach all of South Korea and most of Japan. But the road-mobile Musudan is the North’s only intermediate-range ballistic missile with a range long enough to reach United States military bases in Guam, a major launching pad for American reinforcements should a war break out on the Korean Peninsula.
The North began testing the Musudan on April 15, after repeated calls by its leader, Kim Jong-un, for his military to conduct more nuclear and missile tests despite international sanctions.
North Korea’s missiles have seldom worked on the first try, but a string of five successive failures with the Musudan was unusual even by the country’s checkered standards. Analysts have attributed the failures to Mr. Kim. In his rush to demonstrate an ability to strike American military bases in Guam with nuclear and chemical weapons, Mr. Kim was not giving his engineers enough time to fix the problems before again testing the Musudan, the analysts said.
North Korea has repeatedly threatened nuclear strikes against the United States, claiming that it has built nuclear weapons small enough to be mounted on its various ballistic missiles.North Korea has repeatedly threatened nuclear strikes against the United States, claiming that it has built nuclear weapons small enough to be mounted on its various ballistic missiles.
But the country has never carried out a successful test flight of a long-range missile. But the country has never carried out a successful test flight of a long-range missile that could reach the continental United States.