N. Korea fails in new missile test: Seoul

There was a high degree of confidence it was not an intercontinental ballistic missile, a United States official said on condition of anonymity.

Pyongyang showed off two new intercontinental ballistic missile-sized canisters as well as displaying its submarine-launched ballistic missile and a land-based version of the same for the first time, according to analysts.

“North Korea’s military will as ever courageously counter those who encroach upon the dignity and sovereignty of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and will always mercilessly foil all the provocative options of the United States with Korean-style toughest counteraction”.

North Korea is one of nine countries on Earth with nuclear weapons in its arsenal, and is by leaps and bounds the most brutal and despotic of the lot.

The latest development comes as US Vice-President Mike Pence heads to the South Korean capital, Seoul, where he is expected to discuss the best way to deal with North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes.

North Korea’s vice minister fired back, telling The Associated Press on Friday that Trump’s tweets add fuel to a “vicious cycle” of tension between the two nations.

“If Theresa May and Boris Johnson really do have any influence with their great friend in the White House they need to make clear that aircraft carrier diplomacy is not what the world needs”.

North Korea’s leadership has warned the United States it is “ready to hit back with nuclear attacks” if provoked.

On Saturday morning, North Korea warned America to end its “military hysteria” or face retaliation.

The show of strength comes amid mounting tension, with a USA aircraft carrier group steaming towards the region.

“The missile blew up nearly immediately”, the US Defence Department said of the early morning launch which was also monitored by the South Korean military.

North Korea last held a military parade on October 10, 2015, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling party.

The state TV also showed several KN-08 missiles being rolled out on trucks at the parade.

The US cruise missile strike on Syria vindicated its stance, it said last weekend. An official from South Korea’s defence ministry couldn’t immediately confirm whether any of the rockets represented a new type of ICBM.

“It appears today’s launch was already scheduled for re-launching after the earlier test-firing”, said Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.

There were no further details, and the office said it was analysing the launch. It was the first time North Korea had shown the missiles, which have a range of more than 600 miles.

Tanks, multiple rocket launch systems and other weapons followed, while single-engine planes flew in a 105 formation overhead.

Moreover, the North has taken the recent deployment of a US naval strike group to the region as grounds for its continued testing of nuclear and missile weapons technologies.

“The standardization of the nuclear warhead will enable the DPRK to produce at will and as many as it wants a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power”, the government said in September, using a preferred acronym to identify the country.

Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the USA -based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California, said the appearance of ICBMs enclosed in canister launchers suggested Pyongyang was working towards a “new concept” of ICBM.

Pyongyang has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them previous year, and analysis of satellite imagery suggests it could be preparing for a sixth.

The extended-range Scud missile in that earlier launch suffered an in-flight failure and fell into the sea off North Korea’s east coast, according to USA imagery and assessments.

The missile was never a threat to the United States mainland, though North Korea’s increasingly sophisticated weapons are considered a threat to its neighbors, including South Korea and Japan.