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© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.N Korea fires suspected long-range missile designed to hit mainland U.S.
By HYUNG-JIN KIM SEOUL©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
34 Comments
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In the Beningging
US/Japan/SK should take the words of NK seriously. because one thing is certaion. between Russia and North Korea, NK dont back on their words. they know the consenquences, and theyre willing to take it.
its an art of provocation. both sides are using it. one wrong move and it will escalate rapidly....
Good
meh
Mocheake
Kim Jong-un is not feeling hated enough so he's back to launching missiles. Now for the weather...
Sven Asai
It seems NK feels currently ignored or forgotten a little bit, when the whole world discusses the missile trajectory and origin of that missile which exploded in Poland.
CaptDingleheimer
I hope we keep just basically ignoring him. Let’s watch him go bananas. What’s he gonna do, shoot a missile into Japan or South Korea? He’ll be in a pool of molten glass and he knows it. He won’t do anything….
TokyoLiving
If the US stopped meddling in all the affairs of this world, surely there wouldn't be such a geopolitical crisis and the world would be better...
Fredrik
NK:an missile flying over NK...
Laguna
There's not much that could go worse for NK. This, though, is one.
CrashTestDummy
Kim Jong Un not happy with all the sanctions countries are putting on N. Korea.
Cricky
Well we will see where it actually crash landed then asses.
Nemo
The North is fond of making escalatory proclamations and acts.
How about a little tit for tat?
What if......
The next US ICBM test (we do about 1 per year to maintain a provable reliable deterent with dummy warheads that fall within 100m of their targets) targets not the Marshal Islands, but targets ocean regions outside the North's territorial waters but exactly 100NM East of major NK aim points?
"Move the impacts 100 nm West, Kim. That is what disappears."
I think that "might" get the North's attention.
All perfectly legal, no "threat" to anyone per say.
But as an attention getter? Mission Accomplished.
Sit down and be quiet, fat boy. The adults are talking.
Nemo
'HooKnows,
AND if only the US just let a totalitarian dictatorship spread misery to the entire Korean Peninsula....
No wait, Japan as well!
If only the US would "mind it's own business" and let thugs subjugate people through out Asia (and now Europe as well) then we could all join hands and sing "The International", err..... "Kumbaya." SMH.....
Nemo
One wonders just how much grain the DPRK could have legally purchased in the international marketplace using the hard currency spent on these missiles and the efforts to develop them?
So, when they come begging for humanitarian assistance, we know what to tell them.
shogun36
I don't think that transport has enough wheels.
What is that? 11 per side?
They couldn't get a cool dozen? Or did they just miscount?
oyatoi
When the skipper orders little buddy Japan to enact restrictions on the pachinko industry’s ability to repatriate money to the North to fund its nukes program, that’s when we’ll know the US is getting serious.
Speed
China and Russia should be kicked out of the UN Security Council. They're the antithesis of "security."
smithinjapan
'Hamada called the launch "a reckless act that threatens Japan as well as the region and the international community."'
Always gotta be about Japan, even when it's a missile designed to hit the US. It could also hit Japan, of course, and could hit South Korea, but South Korea just called it "a grave provocation and serious threat"... didn't make it all about themselves and then issue threats and hide behind the US and others. THIS is why Kishida and Japan were not taken seriously at G20.
Peter14
No, they should simply continue to offer talks and ignore all of NK missile tests and posturing and other rubbish they spout via the media on a regular basis.
No they dont. They never follow through with their threats to annihilate anyone.
With nations like China and Russia meddling in the affairs of others, it is a good thing the US is there to counterbalance these bully nations. China and Russia are not to be trusted and until they become good global citizens I am happy to have America keeping them from taking control of the planet.
NK remain poorly fed and with a non existent health care sector and a psycho leadership. But they do have long distance ICBM's, at least until they throw them away in the ocean.
Sanctions will never be removed until the nuclear weapons are dismantled. NK will not dismantle it's nuclear weapons so it must learn to live with crippling sanctions always being in place. NK is so unstable that their having nuclear weapons is a threat to everyone including their few friends.
theFu
That's a short trip for an ICBM. They should aim for a target outside shipping lanes, south of the Hawaii/California shipping areas to test some distance. It would be smart of they pre-announced the tests .... or perhaps not. See what happens.
Do China and NK have a shared nuclear defense agreement?
We know that the US tests their ICBM missiles with a test launch from time to time. So far, over 300 of these tests have been performed as a way to show that they are under national control, reliable and can hit specific targets. The last was in Sept 2022. Usually, they target near Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, so there's little confusion by the normal adversaries for where the missile is headed. Of course, Russian and Chinese ships are in the area, watching and reporting back.
quercetum
How did the UN troops lose the Korean War? North and South need to reunify and become one like Germany and Vietnam. They used to be three kingdoms but reunited. They eventually will.
The U.S. has no choice and is forced to accept the fact that NK and Iran are nuclear capable. Sanctions at this point only increases the probability of N war.
buffalo
Do they only have one TV that can be photographed for breaking news?
Mr Kipling
The US regularly flies nuclear capable bombers from Guam to skirt NK airspace. This is either a direct provocation or response to NK aggression, depending on your point of view. Chicken or egg?
The best solution would be for the super power to be the bigger man and stop the war games around the coast, stop the flights from Guam and stop the regime change rhetoric. This would help peace and stability but wouldn't help in encouraging Japan to spend more billions on US arms which is a major goal.
Mr Kipling
North Korea is a nuclear state. Iran is not and has no intention to become one.
Nemo
As has been explained here numerous times, the B-1B Lancer (the primary bomber used in these demostration flights) is no longer nuclear capable having been modified to comply with treaty requirements with Russia.
And beyond that, the argument is factuous. The only reason for the strong forward deployment and annual training exercises is the desire of the North to invade the South, overthrow its government (raping it's riches in the process) and unifying the peninsula under a totalitarian dicatorship.
We have seen this movie before, remember? It ran between 1950 and 1953.
Now that the North's army is antiquated and hungry, it's "air farse" no more than flying targets (when it flies at all), the North has moved on to missiles and nukes.
So pardon the US, S. Korea and Japan for training to defend against that aggression.
In the opinion of some, we should just let the North wash over the South, clasp arms and sing "The International". Yeah, that is not going to happen.
Gorramcowboy
All bark and no bite, Kim. All the missiles in the world but nothing to attach to them.
How is it the world still gives any aid to this country??
OssanAmerica
Yes, but it didn't land anywhere near Guam or Hawaii, much less the Continental United States.
Martimurano
The only way change is going to come to this desperately depressing country is by revolution from within, so the free democracies of the world must work together with their smartest people deployed in the information campaign to educate the North Koreans to foment the change.
Maybe by cyber methods, or remote drone-dropping of information leaflets - I'm no expert in this field, but I'm sure the counter-intelligence and associated services must have the brains to think outside the box and bring about an effective way of getting the message through, can't be so difficult is it......
1glenn
Kim wastes so much money. He has nuclear weapons, and he has icbms. All this showing off is just a waste of money. If he ever dared to use his nuclear weapons, he would destroy himself.
kurisupisu
…
There aren’t any measures that can be taken.
How about dialogue which Donald Trump initiated and which led to the DPRK not launching missiles during Trump’s time
at the helm?
kaimycahl
@Nemo you haven't seen anything yet, nor have you heard about it. One thing I can say because it is already out there as you wrote below. That's true what you mentioned about the B-1 but there is also the B2 bomber which is nuclear and stealthier, but in the coming month(s) you will be reading and weeping about this piece of technology that will be revealed to the world and its a world wonder!! Loose lips sink ships.
As has been explained here numerous times, the B-1B Lancer (the primary bomber used in these demonstration flights) is no longer nuclear capable having been modified to comply with treaty requirements with Russia.
Stephen Chin
HOW can North Korea produce nuclear missiles capable of reaching the U.S.A.? Does North Korea have TOP class universities which produce World class scientists like the U.S.A. and Japan have?
Planet Earth EXPECTS and DEMANDS answers to the above questions before it becomes a BALL OF FIRE.
Au2000
Here is a different idea, how about offering food to North Korea. Too help feed its people. Hunger makes animals fight. Full tummies make mellow cats
HooKnows