World Worries As North Korea Successfully Launches Another Missile
North Korea celebrated another missile launch on Friday. The missile traveled for more than 435 miles before crashing into the water between Japan and the Korean Peninsula not far from the Russian coast. The missile flew upright at an altitude of more than 1,300 miles and Western experts say that the missile would have possibly traveled up to 2,500 miles if it was launched at a more horizontal angle. Now that they have a missile that can reach a fair distance, North Korea plans on planting a nuclear warhead on the missile. North Korea had an underground nuclear blast test that is sad to have been as powerful of 10 kilotons. This is about twice as large as any previous Korean nuclear tests. While much of the world tries to ignore it, North Korea seems to be desperate for attention as a military power.
“So if their ICBM has three stages, and this is a single-stage missile, maybe we’re watching the North Koreans test the first stage of what will be a multiple stage ICBM.” says David Schmerler
The launch was to see how South Korea’s new President (Moon Jae-in) would respond to a launch that he knows is against UN policies. Moon Jae-in was elected on May 9th, 2017. He came into office with a promise to attempt to make peace with North Korea. Below is a statement he made in response to this latest test.
“I will never overlook such provocations and nuclear threats of North Korea. I will strongly respond to this along with the international community. The reality of today’s national security is that there are military tensions, and highly possible confrontations in the areas of the western Northern Limit Line, and the military demarcation line. Launching ballistic missiles is a serious provocation that violates UN Security Council resolutions, as well as being a serious challenge to global peace and stability. We will never tolerate such North Korean provocations and nuclear threats”
– S. Korean President Moon Jae-in
Even after the launch of the missile, Moon still seeks to reconcile with North Korea because that is always the hope of the Korean people to have one nation but this will be impossible if the North continues to move in this threatening direction.
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un was extremely happy and hugged and thanked his missile team. This test occurred two weeks after North Korea fired a missile that broke up 21 miles into it’s flight and the same thing occurred with the fourth missile launch. Two tests earlier in the year were close to being a success. This launch has drawn the attention of many countries around the world. It is because North Korea intends to use this bomb to bring disaster to the world if America attacks first.
President Trump disapproved of the missile launch and warned that Vladimir Putin would be dissatisfied with North Korea’s actions. After the launch of the missile, Moon responded by sending a message to the United States, China, Germany, Japan, and Russia which explained his plans for his government and some policies towards North Korea.
A White House statement from press secretary Sean Spicer reads:
“With the missile impacting so close to Russian soil — in fact, closer to Russia than to Japan — the President cannot imagine that Russia is pleased.
“North Korea has been a flagrant menace for far too long. South Korea and Japan have been watching this situation closely with us. The United States maintains our ironclad commitment to stand with our allies in the face of the serious threat posed by North Korea. Let this latest provocation serve as a call for all nations to implement far stronger sanctions against North Korea.
The problem with North Korea conducting these launches is that they are restricted by the United Nations to develop nuclear weapons and from these type of ballistic missiles. This Friday the UN is holding a meeting to discuss how to terminate this situation. There is one solution that the UN will discuss on Friday and that is cutting off goods and resources that North Korea desperately needs to keep their military economy running. This blockade would prohibit fuel, including rocket fuel, and would attempting to limit the sale of firearms to Pyonyang.
“North Korea’s actions, aimed at undermining the global nonproliferation regime, pose a serious threat to peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in the Asia-Pacific region.”
“We insist that the North Korean side should stop its dangerous adventures, strictly comply with all the UN Security Council requirements, completely abandon its nuclear missile programs and return to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.”
– a statement from the Russian foreign ministry
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/asia/north-korea-missile-test-world-reaction/