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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

North Korea Fires Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, Lands Off Japan

The Pentagon confirmed Friday that North Korea has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that has landed in the sea off Japan.

(CN) — The Pentagon confirmed Friday that North Korea has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that has landed in the sea off Japan.

Immediately after the launch Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said "We are assessing and will have more information soon."

In addition to confirming the rocket was an ICBM, the Pentagon said it was launched from the north of the country and that it traveled about 1,000 miles over a 45-minute period.

In the wake of the launch, which occurred at about 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said officials there are analyzing the launch and that he has called a meeting of the National Security Council.

North Korea test launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, a weapon with the potential of reaching Alaska on July 4. Since then North Korean state media repeatedly talked of a “pre-emptive nuclear strike” to the “heart” of the U.S.

In a speech to the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday, Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley warned that in light of Pyongyang’s ICBM test, the time to stop North Korea from obtaining nuclear weapons has shortened dramatically.

Milley said should the U.S. got to war against North Korea, Kim Jong Un's military would be "utterly" destroyed. However, he cautioned that such a conflict would be "highly deadly" to those living on the Korean peninsula.

“War in the Korean peninsula would be terrible, however a nuclear weapon detonating in Los Angeles would be [even more] terrible,” Milley said.  “North Korea is the single, most-dangerous threat facing the international community and the U.S. today”- Developing story.

Categories / Government, International, Politics

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