The US Defense Department confirmed on Saturday that North Korea appeared to have fired a missile, and said the launch failed “almost immediately.”
“US Pacific Command detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean missile launch at 11:21 am Hawaii time (2121 GMT) April 15,” said Dave Benham, a spokesman with the US Pacific command.
An unidentified mobile rocket lancher is displayed during a military parade marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung, in Pyongyang on April 15, 2017. ED JONES / AFP
“The launch of the ballistic missile occurred near Sinpo. The missile blew up almost immediately,” Benham said.
“US Pacific Command is fully committed to working closely with our allies in the Republic of Korea and in Japan to maintain security,” he said.A US administration official said President Donald Trump “has been briefed” about the launch.
Aides to Vice President Mike Pence, who was en route to South Korea and due to arrive in Seoul early Sunday, said he also had been briefed about the missile launch and was in contact with the president.
The launch came the same day that North Korea’s weapons of war rolled through Pyongyang streets as leader Kim Jong-Un mounted a spectacular show of strength on the 105th anniversary of the country’s founder, after threats by Trump warning the reclusive nation against a missile launch.
The nuclear-armed state is under United Nations sanctions over its weapons program.
It nevertheless has carried out five nuclear tests –- two of them last year -– and multiple missile launches, one of which saw several rockets land in waters provocatively close to Japan last month.
As tensions worsened between Washington and Pyongyang in recent days, Trump ordered a strike group headed by the USS Carl Vinson supercarrier to the Korean peninsula in a show of force against Kim.
