Russia: North Korea tested medium-range missile not intercontinental
Russia has said that North Korea did not fire an intercontinental ballistic missile in its recent test despite the US’s insistence that it did.
“A Voronezh-type radar station deployed in the Irkutsk region monitored the launch of the Hwasong-14 medium-range ballistic missile (IRBM) from North Korea, which flew a distance of 510 kilometers (317 miles) in 14 minutes, reaching an altitude of 535 kilometers (332 miles), before landing in the Sea of Japan,” read a letter sent to the UN’s secretary general and the chairman of the Security Council by Russia on Sunday.
The letter included a detailed illustration showing the missile’s trajectory and flight path (seen below).
Last week, North Korea announced that it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which Pyongyang claimed could “reach anywhere in the world.”
US intelligence agencies insisted the missile was most likely a new ICBM with an estimated range of 5,500 kilometers and capable of hitting Alaska.
After the test, a fierce debate broke out at the UN Security Council in which the UN’s assistant secretary-general backed the US assessment that the Hwasong-14 missile possess the technical characteristics to be called an ICBM.
“According to these parameters, the missile would have a range of roughly 6,700 kilometers [4,163 miles] if launched on a more typical trajectory, making it an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) according to a widely used definition,” said the UN official.
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Unsettled by North Korean missile and nuclear programs, the US has adopted a war-like posture, sending a strike group and conducting joint military drills with North Korea’s regional adversaries Japan and South Korea.
The US also recently deployed an advanced missile system on South Korean soil to counter potential threats from the North, angering Pyongyang.
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