North Korea warned on Wednesday that it was prepared to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at any time, as the US successfully tested a system designed to intercept them.
The fresh sabre-rattling from Pyongyang appeared to up the stakes as the Pentagon announced on Tuesday that it had intercepted a mock-up of an ICMB in a first-of-its-kind test.
The success of the test is a watershed moment for the US military’s effort to establish an effective – though limited – ground-based defense against ICBMs as the North ramps up its threats.
‘We’re prepared to test-fire ICMBs anywhere and anytime on orders from the supreme commander (Kim Jong-Un)’, the state-run Rodong Sinmun paper said in the article entitled: ‘No one can stop the nuclear power state, rocketry master in the East’.
The paper added: ‘The United States must know our declaration that we can turn the devils’ den into ashes with nuclear weapons is not an empty threat.’
Concern among the international community over the North’s weapons program was further raised after North Korea test-fired yet another ballistic missile, the latest in a series of launches that have ratcheted up tensions over Pyongyang’s quest to develop weapons capable of hitting the United States.
It was the third missile test by the nuclear-armed regime in less than three weeks, defying UN sanctions warnings and US threats of possible military action.
Early this month, it test-fired what appeared to be its longest-range ballistic missile yet tested in a bid to bring the US mainland within reach.
The North has carried out two atomic tests and dozens of missile launches since the beginning of last year in its quest to develop a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental United States – something President Donald Trump has vowed ‘won’t happen’.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said Tuesday’s trial was not timed specifically in response to tensions with Pyongyang but that ‘in a broad sense, North Korea is one of the reasons why we have this capability’.
‘They continue to conduct test launches, as we saw this weekend, while also using dangerous rhetoric that suggests they would strike the United States homeland,’ Davis said.
The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) interceptor successfully struck its target over the Pacific Ocean in an exercise aimed at helping gauge American ability to counter any potential similar threat from North Korea.
US Missile Defense Agency Director Vice Adm Jim Syring told NBC News the test was a ‘critical milestone’.
‘This system is vitally important to the defense of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat,’ Syring said.
I am incredibly proud of the warfighters who executed this test and who operate this system every day,’ he added.
America’s last intercept test, in June 2014, was successful, but the longer track record is spotty.
Since the system was declared ready for potential combat use in 2004, only four of nine intercept attempts have been successful.
Laura Grego, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has criticized the missile defense program, calls the interceptor an ‘advanced prototype’, meaning it is not fully matured technologically even if it has been deployed and theoretically available for combat since 2004.
The interceptors are, in essence, the last line of US defense against an attack by an intercontinental-range missile.
The Pentagon has other elements of missile defense that have shown to be more reliable, although they are designed to work against medium-range or shorter-range ballistic missiles.
These include the Patriot missile, which numerous countries have purchased from the US, and the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, which the United States deployed this year to South Korea to defend against medium-range missiles from North Korea.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.