The Japanese defense minister says a North Korean missile test-launched Friday could potentially reach the entire continental U.S.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters that the suspected intercontinental ballistic missile flew 1,000 kilometers at a maximum altitude of about 6,000 kilometers .He says depending on the weight of a warhead to be placed on the missile, the weapon has a range exceeding 15,000 kilometers , "in which case it could cover the entire mainland United States.
The Japanese Defense Ministry also initially identified the weapon as an ICBM-class ballistic missile. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, visiting Bangkok to attend a regional summit, told reporters it was believed to have landed at sea inside Japan's exclusive economic zone west of Hokkaido, Japan's main northern island.
The Hwasong-17 has a longer potential range than the others and its huge size suggests it's designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads to defeat missile defense systems. Some experts say the Nov. 3 test showed some technological progress in the development of the Hwasong-17, given that in its earlier test in March, the missile exploded soon after liftoff.
North Korea had halted weapons launches for about a week before it fired a short-range ballistic missile on Thursday. Choe didn't say what steps North Korea could take but said that "the U.S. will be well aware that it is gambling, for which it will certainly regret."
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