North Korea says ready to deploy, mass-produce new missile
North Korea said Monday it is ready to start mass-producing a new medium-range missile after a weekend test-launch confirmed its combat readiness.
South Korea military says North Korea fired unidentified projectile
North Korea on Monday fired an unidentified projectile off its east coast, South Korea's military said, in what is likely the latest test-launch of a ballistic missile as the North seeks to build nuclear-tipped ICBMs that can reach the U.S. mainland.
North Korea says it's ready to deploy and mass-produce new missile
TOKYO (AP) — North Korea said Monday it is ready to start mass-producing a new medium-range missile after a weekend test-launch confirmed its combat readiness.It called the missile, capable of reaching Japan and major U.S. military bases there, an "answer" to U.S. President Donald Trump's policies.The solid-fuel Pukguksong-2 missile flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles) and reached a height of 560 kilometers (350 miles) on Sunday before plunging into the Pacific Ocean.
North Korea: New long-range missile can carry heavy nuke
North Korea said Monday the missile it launched over the weekend was a new type of "medium long-range" ballistic rocket that can carry a heavy nuclear warhead
Reports: North Korea launches ballistic missile test
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea on Sunday test-launched a ballistic missile that flew for half an hour and reached an unusually high altitude before landing in the Sea of Japan, the South Korean, Japanese and U.S. militaries said.The launch, which Tokyo said could be a new type of missile, is a direct challenge to the new South Korean president elected four days ago and comes as U.S., Japanese and European navies gather for joint war games in the Pacific.It wasn't immediately clear what type of ballistic missile was launched, although the U.S. Pacific Command said that "the flight is not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile." Japanese officials, however, said the missile flew for about 30 minutes, traveling about 800 kilometers (500 miles) and reaching an altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) — a flight pattern that could indicate a new type of missile.David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the flight indicates that the missile could have a range of 4,500 kilometers (about 2,800 miles) if flown on a standard, instead of a lofted, trajectory; that would be considerably longer than Pyongyang's current missiles.The estimated range of the North's Musudan missile is about 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles), Wright said, which is a little less than the distance between the U.S. Pacific island of Guam and North Korea.
North Korea may be willing to meet with Trump, says diplomat
BEIJING — A top North Korean diplomat said Saturday that Pyongyang would be willing to meet with the Trump administration for negotiations "if the conditions are set."Choe Son Hui, director general for North American Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, spoke briefly to reporters in Beijing en route to Pyongyang.
Due to N. Korea tension, bill in Legislature would remove ban on nuclear attack planning
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A 1984 prohibition on including nuclear attack preparations in Washington state's emergency management plans would be removed under a new bill introduced by two lawmakers.One lawmaker says recent tensions between the U.S. and North Korea makes the idea timely.
North Korea accuses U.S., South Korea of assassination attempt
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Friday accused the U.S. and South Korean spy agencies of an unsuccessful assassination attempt on leader Kim Jong Un involving biochemical weapons.In a statement carried on state media, North Korea's Ministry of State Security said it will "ferret out and mercilessly destroy" the "terrorists" in the CIA and South Korean intelligence agency responsible for targeting its supreme leadership.North Korea frequently lambasts the United States and South Korea, but its accusation Friday was unusual in its detail.RELATED: Seattle called ‘ultimate target’ for North Korean nuclear attack, but is it possible?The ministry said the spy agencies in June 2014 "ideologically corrupted and bribed" a North Korean citizen who was working in Russia to carry out the alleged assassination on Kim after returning home.It said South Korean agents gave money and satellite communication equipment to the North Korean to attack Kim during a public event using a biochemical weapon such as a delayed-action radioactive or "nano poisonous" substance.The ministry said after a series of contacts and payments, the agents told the North Korean last month that the type of biochemical substance had been decided and would be supplied by the CIA.The statement, carried by North Korea's official news agency and read on state TV, didn't describe how the alleged plot was broken up or give the full name of the North Korean suspect, identifying him only by his surname, Kim, and didn't say whether anyone else was in custody.In Washington, the CIA declined to comment, and officials at South Korea's National Intelligence Service did not answer repeated phone calls.The alleged plan to use a biochemical agent on a member of North Korea's ruling family resembles the assassination earlier this year of Kim Jong Un's exiled half brother at a Malaysian airport.
US test fires ballistic missile from California for the second time
An unarmed missile capable of sending a nuclear bomb across the world was launched Wednesday from a coastal California military base amid rising tensions between the U.S. and North Korea.
McCain: US should consider preemptive North Korea strike as 'very last option'
Sen. John McCain says President Donald Trump should consider a preemptive strike on North Korea if the country is able to deliver a nuclear weapon by ballistic missile, but only as a final option.
North Korea says its missiles to target the US mainland
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's state media has reiterated the country's goal of developing a nuclear missile capable of reaching the continental United States on the same day rivals Washington and Seoul detected a failed missile launch from an area near Pyongyang.The Rodong Sinmun newspaper also said Saturday that the North revealed two types of new intercontinental ballistic missiles in an April 15 military parade honoring its late state founder, Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un.The parade featured previously unseen large rocket canisters and launcher trucks.
North Korea launches mid-range ballistic missile, but it fails, South Korea says; Trump comments
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A North Korean mid-range ballistic missile apparently failed shortly after launch Saturday, South Korea and the United States said, the second such test-fire flop in recent weeks but a clear message of defiance as a U.S. supercarrier conducts drills in nearby waters.North Korean ballistic missile tests are proscribed by the United Nations because they're seen as part of the North's push for a nuclear-tipped missile that can strike the U.S. mainland.
Seattle called 'ultimate target' for North Korean nuclear attack, but is it possible?
SEATTLE -- The world -- and especially Seattle -- are anxiously waiting for North Korea's sixth nuclear test.More than a month after US and South Korean officials publicly declared North Korea was ready to set off a nuclear bomb and almost two weeks since analysts said North Korea's only nuclear test site, Punggye-ri, was "primed and ready," no detonation has happened.Michael Hayden, the former head of the CIA, along with other experts and analysts, has predicted that North Korea will probably be able to hit Seattle with a nuclear weapon aboard an intercontinental ballistic missile.RELATED: US Air Force test fires long-range missileWhy target Seattle?Richard Ellings, the President of the National Bureau of Asian Research, along with others, firmly agrees that North Korea doesn't have the capability for its missiles to reach Seattle yet, and likely won't in the immediate future.Ellings said Seattle is a prime target.Could tensions turn into war in North Korea?"We are the ultimate target to hold hostage, from a North Korean perspective," Ellings said. "We have JBLM whose primary purpose is to reinforce the Korean Peninsula in case hostilities break out.
North Korea detains US citizen; 3rd American being held there
PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea has detained a U.S. citizen, officials said Sunday, bringing to three the number of Americans now being held there.Tony Kim, who also goes by his Korean name Kim Sang-duk, was detained on Saturday, according to Park Chan-mo, the chancellor of the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.Park said Kim, who is in his 50s, taught accounting at the university for about a month.
North Korean test missile explodes on launch
SEOUL, South Korea — A North Korean missile exploded during launch Sunday, U.S. and South Korean officials said, a high-profile failure that comes as a powerful U.S. aircraft supercarrier approaches the Korean Peninsula in a show of force.It wasn't immediately clear what kind of missile was test-fired from the east coast city of Sinpo.
N. Korean leader appears at military parade while official accuses US of 'creating war situation'
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — A senior North Korean government official says the country is ready to stand up to any threat posed by the United States as he spoke at an immense parade celebrating the birthday of the country's founder Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un.Choe Ryong Hae, who some presume as the second-most powerful official in North Korea, said Saturday that the new U.S. government under Donald Trump was "creating a war situation" in the Korean Peninsula by dispatching strategic military assets to the region.The United States a few days ago dispatched what Trump called an "armada" of ships in a show of force, including an aircraft carrier, into waters off the peninsula amid fears that North Korea was preparing another round of nuclear or missile tests."We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack," Choe said during the parade in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made an appearance at an immense military parade celebrating the birthday of his late grandfather and North Korea founder Kim Il Sung.
Seattle the 'ultimate target' for North Korea nuclear bomb, expert says
SEATTLE -- As new satellite footage shows North Korea's nuclear site primed and ready for a test, at least one expert says Seattle would be the "ultimate target" for a nuclear weapon from the rogue nation.Richard Ellings, the President of the National Bureau of Asian Research, says the missiles North Korea currently possesses can reach any part of Japan and South Korea.
Pentagon: Navy carrier strike group headed toward Korean Peninsula
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon says a Navy carrier strike group is moving toward the western Pacific Ocean to provide a physical presence near the Korean Peninsula.North Korea's recent ballistic missile tests and continued pursuit of a nuclear program have raised tensions in the region, where U.S. Navy ships are a common presence and serve in part as a show of force.On Saturday, President Donald Trump and South Korea's leader, Acting President Hwang Kyo-Ahn, spoke by phone.
Trump says US is ready to act alone on North Korea
POTOMAC FALLS, Va. (AP) — President Donald Trump says that the United States is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stand against North Korea's nuclear program.Trump's comments in an interview with the Financial Times come just days before he is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida.
U.S. moves parts of controversial missile defense to South Korea after North's launchings
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. missile launchers and other equipment needed to set up a controversial missile defense system have arrived in South Korea, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said Tuesday, a day after North Korea test-launched four ballistic missiles into the ocean near Japan.The plans to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, by the end of this year have angered not only North Korea, but also China and Russia, which see the system's powerful radars as a security threat.Washington and Seoul say the system is defensive and not meant to be a threat to Beijing or Moscow.The U.S. military said in a statement that THAAD is meant to intercept and destroy short and medium range ballistic missiles during the last part of their flights."Continued provocative actions by North Korea, to include yesterday's launch of multiple missiles, only confirm the prudence of our alliance decision last year to deploy THAAD to South Korea," Adm.