North Korean Missile Did Not Endanger North American Mainland, US Military Officials Announce

By Bruce Finley, The Denver Post

30 July 17

 

orth Korea’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch did not endanger North America, military officials responsible for defending the U.S. mainland announced Sunday afternoon.

But the launch Friday of a missile, which landed in the Pacific Ocean east of Korea, shows that North Korea remains a threat to the United States and allies, according to Gen. Lori Robinson, commander of the Colorado-based North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command. Robinson made the announcement in a statement issued Sunday after a test of U.S. defenses against high-altitude missiles over the ocean.

And Robinson reiterated a commitment to work with South Korea and Japan — and to defend those countries and the United States — “in the face of these continued North Korean provocations.”

NORAD and Northern Command forces detected North Korea’s missile Friday and tracked it, the military officials said from Peterson Air Force Base, east of Colorado Springs.

It was “determined not to be a danger to North America,” Robinson’s statement said. “However, this provocative launch served as yet another reminder of North Korea’s continued threat to the United States and our allies with their missile program,” the statement said.

NORAD and NORTHCOM are branches of the U.S. military responsible for defending the mainland.

“I want to assure our citizens that USNORTHCOM remains unwavering in our confidence that we can fully defend the United States against this ballistic missile threat,” Robinson said.

North Korean officials claimed the Hwasong-14 ballistic missile they tested Friday could reach all of the United States. It was their second test of a long-range missile this month, following the launch July 4 of a missile said to be capable of reaching Alaska. It was unclear how heavy of a load the missile was carrying.

After the launch, some U.S. analysts reportedly said that, if the missile was fired on a different trajectory, it might have had the capability of hitting major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Denver or Chicago.

In April, Robinson testified to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that North Korea is working aggressively to develop a nuclear missile that could hit the United States.

“In his five years as Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un has conducted nearly three times as many ballistic missile tests as his father and grandfather did in their combined 63 years in power,” Robinson told lawmakers. “It is Kim Jong Un’s willingness to accept public failure that worries me the most. In contrast to his father, who used missile and nuclear tests primarily to extract diplomatic concessions, Kim is pursuing a systematic program to develop, test and field a viable weapon system as a deterrent to a regime-ending attack.”

Robinson also warned U.S. senators that, amid the “unprecedented pace of North Korean strategic weapons testing,” the U.S. ability to provide “actionable” advance warnings “continues to diminish.”