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North Korea claims that it has launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, which experts say could have the ability to reach Alaska.
State officials made the boast early Tuesday morning, several hours after the country launched a missile that landed in the sea near Japan. The North Korean government went so far as to say its new missile could hit any location on the planet, a claim whose validity was unclear.
South Korea had earlier warned that the test appeared more advanced than usual. The missile's trajectory had an unusually steep angle, suggesting it could travel farther than previous efforts.
The launch, which North Korea's state media said was ordered and supervised by leader Kim Jong Un, sent the rocket 933 kilometers, or 580 miles. North Korea announced a flight time of 39 minutes, though the US Pacific Command listed the flight time at 37 minutes. The rocket reached an altitude of 2,802 km, Reuters said.
David Wright, the codirector of the Global Security Program at the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said North Korea's claims suggested the missile may be powerful enough to "allow it to reach all of Alaska."
In a blog post, he said: "If the reports are correct, that same missile could reach a maximum range of roughly 6,700 km (4,160 miles) on a standard trajectory."
Officials from South Korea, Japan, and the US said the missile had landed in the sea near the coast of Japan after being launched near an airfield in Panghyon, about 100 km (60 miles) northwest of North Korea's capital, Pyongyang.
"The test launch was conducted at the sharpest angle possible and did not have any negative effect on neighboring countries," North Korea's state media said in a statement.
#DPRK TV: Kim Jong Un guided successful Hwasong-14 ICBM test launch. pic.twitter.com/KXxOH6xt2m
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) July 4, 2017
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who convened a National Security Council meeting, said his government was looking at the possibility that the missile was an ICBM, although it thought it more likely to be an intermediate-range version.
Analysts cited by Reuters said the flight details on Tuesday suggested the new missile had a range of more than 8,000 km, underscoring major advances in North Korea's project. Other analysts said they believed its range was not so far. ICBMs by definition have a minimum range of 5,500 km.
US President Donald Trump responded to the launch via Twitter. He called on China to "put a heavy move on North Korea" to stop the tests.
Trump criticized North Korean leader Kim for authorizing the launch, asking: "Does this guy have nothing better to do with his life?"
North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017
....and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017
North Korea has long been working to develop a nuclear-tipped ICBM capable of hitting the US, ignoring repeated warnings from the international community.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday said he would ask the presidents of China and Russia to play more constructive roles in efforts to stop Pyongyang's arms project.
"Leaders of the world will gather at the G-20 meeting" on Friday, Abe told reporters, according to Reuters. "I would like to strongly call for solidarity of the international community on the North Korean issue."
China has urged "restraint" from all parties following the missile launch, according to AFP.
John Everard, the former British ambassador to North Korea, told Sky News: "This is not just bravado, this is a real threat."
‘I made promises to the people that I lost’— How the Iraq war forged a Navy SEAL’s path to Harvard Medical School and NASA
Navy Lt. Jonny Kim went viral last week when NASA announced that he and 10 other candidates (including six other service members) became the newest members of the agency's hallowed astronaut corps. A decorated Navy SEAL and graduate of Harvard Medical School, Kim in particular seems to have a penchant for achieving people's childhood dreams.
However, Kim shared with Task & Purpose that his motivation for living life the way he has stems not so much from starry-eyed ambition, but from the pain and loss he suffered both on the battlefields of Iraq and from childhood instability while growing up in Los Angeles. Kim tells his story in the following Q&A, which was lightly edited for length and clarity:
You can practically smell the gunpowder in this intense Marine Corps photo
You can almost smell the gunpowder in the scene captured by a Marine photographer over the weekend, showing a Marine grunt firing a shotgun during non-lethal weapons training.
Marine grunt being considered for award after saving 3 from fiery car crash
A Marine grunt stationed in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina is being considered for an award after he saved the lives of three people earlier this month from a fiery car crash.
Cpl. Scott McDonell, an infantry assaultman with 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, was driving down Market Street in Wilmington in the early morning hours of Jan. 11 when he saw a car on fire after it had crashed into a tree. Inside were three victims aged 17, 20, and 20.
"It was a pretty mangled wreck," McDonell told ABC 15. "The passenger was hanging out of the window."
New Vietnam War movie 'The Last Full Measure' takes some well-deserved shots at the military’s award process
Todd Robinson's upcoming Vietnam War drama, The Last Full Measure, is a story of two battles: One takes place during an ambush in the jungles of Vietnam in 1966, while the other unfolds more than three decades later as the survivors fight to see one pararescueman's valor posthumously recognized.
US forces in Iraq are facing more attacks from Shiite militias than ISIS, commander says
With ISIS trying to reorganize itself into an insurgency, most attacks on U.S. and allied forces in Iraq are being carried out by Shiite militias, said Air Force Maj. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, the deputy commander for operations and intelligence for U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.
"In the time that I have been in Iraq, we've taken a couple of casualties from ISIS fighting on the ground, but most of the attacks have come from those Shia militia groups, who are launching rockets at our bases and frankly just trying to kill someone to make a point," Grynkewich said Wednesday at an event hosted by the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.