NATO, U.S. warn North Korea against sending troops to help Russia
The head of NATO on Tuesday warned that the transfer of North Korean troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine would be a significant escalation.
North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that flew for its longest ever recorded flight time and with a theoretical range capable of striking the U.S. mainland, South Korea and Japan’s militaries reported Thursday.
It marked North Korea’s first ICBM launch since December and comes as the reclusive nuclear-armed country may be seeking to grab U.S. attention ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election.
The launch also comes as the nation has ratcheted up its rhetoric against U.S. allies South Korea and Japan, and as NATO and the Pentagon estimate that North Korea has sent about 10,000 soldiers to train in eastern Russia for possible eventual deployment in Ukraine to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort there.
The ICBM was in the air for 86 minutes, beating its previous record by 13 minutes. It was launched from near North Korea’s capital Pyongyang and traveled for about 620 miles before crashing into the sea in waters off Japan.
However, because the missile was fired at what Japan’s defense ministry described as a “very high” angle, reaching an altitude of about 4,350 miles, this means it could in theory have flown much farther. Anchorage, Alaska is fewer than 3,700 miles from North Korea. Washington, D.C. is about 6,800 miles from Pyongyang.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Thursday’s launch showed “our will to respond to our enemies,” according to comments he made to his country’s state media. Kim described the test as “appropriate military action.”
The White House’s National Security Council Spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement that the test was a “flagrant violation” of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. Savell said United States Indo-Pacific Command assessed the launch “did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies.”
Tokuda Ryosuke, a journalist for Japan’s state broadcaster NHK who specializes in North Korea, said there was “no doubt” that Pyongyang had the U.S. and its upcoming election “in mind” when it conducted its test.
North Korea is estimated to have an arsenal of about 50 “stored” nuclear warheads, meaning they are not actively deployed on its various land-based weapons systems including its long-range missiles. Of the more than 12,000 global inventory of nuclear warheads, more than 10,500 belong to the U.S. and Russia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The U.S. and Russia each have about 1,700 “deployed” nuclear warheads, meaning they are ready to be used with land-and-sea missile systems, as well as aircraft.
This story has been updated with new information.