The flight details reported by North Korea, which roughly matched the launch information previously assessed by its neighbours, show the weapon is theoretically capable of reaching the mainland U.S. The steep-angle launch was apparently to avoid neighbouring countries. It said the missile was fired at a high angle and reached a maximum altitude of about 5,770 kilometres (3,585 miles), flying a distance of about 990 kilometres (615 miles) for 67 minutes before accurately hitting a pre-set area in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. KCNA said the launch was designed to verify the weapon's reliability and the combat readiness of the country's nuclear force. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said its launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM was organized "suddenly" without prior notice at Kim's direct order. 5 Things to Know newsletter: Sign up to start your day with the biggest stories.An expert says North Korea may seek to hold regular operational exercises involving its ICBMs. 1, signals its leader Kim Jong Un is using his rivals' drills as a chance to expand his country's nuclear arsenal to get the upper hand in future dealings with the United States. Saturday's ICBM test, the North's first missile test since Jan. The United States responded by flying long-range supersonic bombers in a show of force later Sunday for separate joint exercises with South Korean and Japanese warplanes. Washington and others say brinksmanship is the North's true motive for the nuclear push.North Korea said Sunday its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test was meant to further bolster its "fatal" nuclear attack capacity and threatened additional powerful steps over upcoming military drills between the United States and South Korea. North Korea lays the blame for its much-condemned nuclear weapons programs on the United States.Ī rich vein of North Korean propaganda fueled by decades-old American threats holds that the North remains at risk of an unprovoked nuclear attack. "We aim to launch surgical strikes at any time and any target without being bounded by the armistice accord and advance our long-cherished wish for national unification," the statement said. North Korea also warned that it will block a communications line between it and the United States at the border village separating the two Koreas. North Korea said Washington and others are going beyond mere economic sanctions and expanding into blunt aggression and military acts. North Korea warned it will cancel the armistice agreement on March 11 because of ongoing US-South Korean military drills that began March 1 which the statement called a "dangerous nuclear war targeted at us." North Korea says its nuclear program is a response to US hostility that dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war. The United States and others worry that North Korea's third nuclear test pushes it a step closer toward its goal of having nuclear-armed missiles that can reach America, and condemn its nuclear and missile efforts as threats to regional security and a drain on the resources that could go to North Korea's largely destitute people. Such heated military rhetoric and threats are common from North Korea as tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula, and Pyongyang's recent nuclear test and rocket launches, and the push for UN punishment that have followed, have increased already high animosity between the North and Washington and ally Seoul. The draft is expected to be circulated at the UN this week. Without elaborating, the Korean People's Army Supreme Command warned of "surgical strikes" meant to unify the divided Korean Peninsula and of an indigenous, "precision nuclear striking tool." The statement came amid reports that Washington and North Korean ally Beijing have approved a draft of a UN Security Council resolution calling for sanctions in response to North Korea's Feb.
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