It’s as if they’re playing a very large, global game of chicken, taunting the U.S. and our allies with repeated missile tests.
Over the holiday weekend, North Korea fired a Scud missile which landed inside the boundaries of Japan’s maritime waters.
And South Korean experts indicated that this missile had shown notable improvements in technology from recent test-fires.
The test prompted Pentagon officials to move more naval assets into strategic position in preparation for additional moves from Kim Jong Un.
Things are far from over, folks.
Here’s more from Fox News…
North Korea test-fired a short-range Scud ballistic missile off its eastern coast, the U.S. military said Sunday.
The launch was the latest in a series of tests as the communist nation seeks to build nuclear-tipped ICBMs that can reach the U.S. mainland.
A statement from U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii said the missile was launched at 4:40 p.m. ET (5:40 a.m. Monday Korea time) from the eastern North Korea coastal town of Wonsan. The statement said the missile flew for six minutes until it landed in the Sea of Japan.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile flew about 280 miles.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said what appeared to be a North Korean ballistic missile fell within Japan’s exclusive maritime economic zone. He said there was no immediate report of damage to planes or vessels in the area.
North Korea is still thought to be several years away from its goal of being able to target U.S. mainland cities with a nuclear ICBM, but each new test puts it closer to success. The North has a strong arsenal of short- and medium-range missiles that target Japan and South Korea and U.S. forces in the region, and it is working to perfect its longer-range missiles.
There was no immediate comment from North Korea’s state controlled media. But the launch followed a report from the North that said leader Kim Jong Un had watched a successful test of a new type of anti-aircraft guided weapon system. It wasn’t clear from the report when the test happened.
After the test, Kim said the weapon system’s ability to detect and track targets had “remarkably” improved and its accuracy also increased, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
