February 11
anti-missile system to South Korea, a process
In February, North Korea successfully tested a
land-based KN-15 missile, a new solid-fuel
intermediate-range missile, which traveled 310
miles into the Sea of Japan.
Gen. John Hyten, the commander of U.S. Strategic
Command, told a congressional panel in early April
that the February launch marked a significant
advancement for North Korea because it was its
first successful solid-fueled missile fired from a
mobile launcher.
Mobile-launched missiles are harder to track and
can be fired at short notice.
Hyten labeled the launch of what is now believed
to have been a KN-15 missile as “a major
advancement” by North Korea because it was "a
new solid medium range ballistic missile off a new
transporter erector launcher."
The February launch occurred as Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe visited President Donald
Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida over the
weekend.
Photos taken by the club's patrons and later
posted on Facebook captured Japanese and U.S.
officials responding in real-time to the incident,
sparking criticism about why such important
meetings were not conducted in a more secure
location.
March 5
In early March, North Korea launched five
medium-range Scud-er (extended range) missiles.
Four traveled more than 600 miles, the upper limit
of their range, into the Sea of Japan. The fifth took
off, but later crashed.
Three of missiles landed in waters in Japan's
economic exclusion zone, which extends 200 miles
from its shoreline.
Shortly after this test occurred, the U.S. delivered
the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
which the U.S. started working on with its ally
after the flurry of North Korean missile tests in
2016.
THAAD is a missile defense shield designed to
intercept short and medium range missiles.
March 21
Later in the month, North Korea tested a mobile-
launched missile which exploded "within seconds
of launch," according to U.S. Pacific Command.
The launch was near Kalma in eastern Wonsan
province, where North Korea previously
attempted to test its mobile-launched Musudan
intermediate-range ballistic missile. Last year,
North Korea test-fired eight Musudan rockets, but
only one was considered a success.
U.S. officials have not identified what type of
missile was tested on March 21 since it exploded
so soon after launch.
April 4
On April 4, a KN-17 missile launch came just days
before Chinese President Xi Jinping met with
Trump at Mar-a-Lago, during which the pair
discussed how to curb North Korea's missile and
nuclear programs.
The Trump administration is hoping China will
exert its economic influence over North Korea
since the country controls eighty percent of all
foreign trade with the reclusive regime.
What US options are 'on the table' with North
Korea?
U.S. officials said the missile spun out of control
and landed in the Sea of Japan after traveling 34
miles. It was being assessed as an in-flight failure.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson released a
terse statement following Tuesday's test, saying,
"North Korea launched yet another intermediate
range ballistic missile. The United States has
spoken enough about North Korea. We have no
further comment."
The KN-17 is a new mobile-launched, single-stage
missile that uses liquid fuel. It has not been
successfully tested by North Korea, so it's difficult
to assess its full range.
April 15
Less than two weeks later, North Korea launched
another KN-17 that exploded shortly after launch.
"The launch failed very early on, so that makes it
harder to know exactly what they were trying to
do," Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of
state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said days
later. "But I think that our understanding is that it
was not one of the longer-range missiles that they
were trying to test there; it was something like a
medium-range ballistic missile."
Vice President Mike Pence was briefed on the
failed missile launch en route to South Korea on
Air Force 2.
While speaking with U.S. members of the military
in Seoul, Pence described it as a "provocation."
"This morning's provocation from the North is just
the latest reminder of the risks each one of you
face every day in the defense of the freedom of
the people of South Korea and the defense of
America in this part of the world," Pence said.
"Your willingness to step forward, to serve, to
stand firm without fear inspires our nation and
inspires the world, and it's an honor for us to
share this meal with you today."
April 28
North Korea fired a KN-17 for at least the third
launch in April; this time the missile traveled 21
miles before breaking up in mid-air, according to a
U.S. official.
A U.S. Pacific Command spokesman noted that it
was "aware of the event" but gave no further
comment in the immediate aftermath of the
launch.
May 14
The U.S. believes the ballistic missile North Korea
launched was a KN-17 medium range missile, not
a new intermediate range missile. The launch was
the first successful test of this type after several
previous failures.
Launched from Kusong, in western North Korea,
the missile flew for 435 miles before landing in the
Sea of Japan, 60 miles from the Russian border.
The Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada told
reporters that the missile reached an
unprecedented altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,245
miles), which raised speculation that North Korea
may have developed a new intermediate range
missile. Experts claim the missile would have
flown a much greater distance if launched on a
maximum trajectory, perhaps reaching military
bases in Guam.
North Korea boasted the "medium long-range"
ballistic rocket is capable of carrying a heavy
nuclear warhead, but most experts view that claim
with skepticism believing the North Koreans have
yet to perfect the necessary technology.
The missile was first seen publicly in a military
parade in Pyongyang on April 15.
May 21
On May 21, the White House confirmed that
North Korea successfully launched a medium-
range ballistic missile with a shorter range than
missiles in previous tests. The South Korean
military said the missile traveled over 500 km (just
over 300 miles) into the Sea of Japan.
A U.S. official told ABC News that it was a KN-15,
the same solid-fueled missile tested on February
11 that can be fired at short notice.
North Korea said shortly after the test that they
were ready to mass produce medium-range
ballistic missiles capable of reaching Japan and US
military bases there.
This test occurred as Trump was in Saudi Arabia,
the first stop on his first foreign trip as president.
May 28
On May 28. at 10:40 p.m. Hawaii time, North
Korea conducted its ninth test, a short-range
ballistic missile launched from near Wonsan
Airfield.
The missile was tracked for six minutes by U.S.
Pacific Command before it landed in the Sea of
Japan.
A U.S. defense official told ABC News it appeared
to be a SCUD-type missile.
North Korea said this latest launch was aimed at
testing a new precision-guidance system.
July 4
North Korea launched, for the first time, a two-
stage intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to
mark the U.S. holiday of July 4.
The missile was launched into a high-altitude
trajectory of 1,730 miles and flew horizontally
about 577 miles into the Sea of Japan.
The missile emerged from the north of Kusong, a
city located in the far northwestern corner of
North Korea, an area used for launches in the
past.
"The United States strongly condemns North
Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic
missile," Tillerson said in a statement. "Testing an
ICBM represents a new escalation of the threat to
the United States, our allies and partners, the
region, and the world."
July 28
Three weeks after its first ICBM launch, North
Korea tested a second ICBM from Mupyong-ni, in
the far north of the country, near an arms plant.
It traveled 621 miles laterally for 45 minutes and
landed in the Sea of Japan, inside Japan’s
Economic Exclusion Zone, about 88 nautical miles
west of Hokkaido.
It marked the longest flight of a ballistic missile in
North Korea's history, according to the Pentagon.
According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of
Staff, the ICBM traveled 2,300 miles into space.
Experts fear that if North Korea angled the
trajectory of that missile, it could potentially travel
as far as Washington, D.C., or New York.
In a statement, Trump condemned the launch,
saying that North Korea's "second such test in less
than a month" is the "latest reckless and
dangerous action" by Kim Jong Un's regime.
U.S. officials had suspected a test could occur on
July 27 to mark the North Korean holiday known
as "Day of Victory," which celebrates the end of
hostilities in the Korean War in 1953.
But rainy weather at the launch location and
technical difficulties appeared to have prevented
a launch until late Friday night.
Why do they do the tests?
They need to conduct tests to perfect the
technology, analysts say. Some have speculated
that the United States has tried to meddle with
the program using cyber methods, which could
halt progress. The tests also are thought to be
timed for maximum political impact -- a May
launch coincided with the One Belt One Road
summit in Beijing, an important project for
Chinese President Xi Jinping, and a February
launch happened as Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe was visiting US President Donald
Trump. And the ICBM test came on July 4,
Independence Day in the US. All of this applies
equally to the North's nuclear test program, which
has typically followed a similar pattern.
What does North Korea want and why?
A missile capable of reaching the United States
topped with a nuclear warhead is considered to be
Pyongyang's ultimate goal.
They want it because they believe the US will
eventually try to remove Kim Jong Un from power.
But would the United States try to topple the Kim
regime if North Korea could respond with a
nuclear attack?
Pyongyang believes Washington wouldn't, and
that's why the country sees nuclear weapons as
the key to sparing Kim Jong Un from a fate similar
to that which befell Moammar Gaddafi in Libya
and Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
The long-range missile is what really scares the
United States because it means there is an
existential threat of a nuclear attack, according to
John Delury, a professor at Seoul's Yonsei
University's Graduate School of International
Relations.
"We are in a somewhat dangerous period of a
threat perception gap, as Americans adjust to the
sense of vulnerability to North Korean retaliation
that South Koreans and Japanese have lived with
for quite some time," he said.
Kim Jong-un’s Half Brother Is Reported
Assassinated in Malaysia (NYTIMES)
SEOUL, South Korea — He seemed like an ordinary
passenger in the departure hall of the airport for
Malaysia’s capital, awaiting a four-hour flight to
Macau. Moments later, he felt dizzy and was
carried out on a stretcher, apparently dying from
poisoned-needle punctures or perhaps a toxic
liquid splashed on his face by two women who ran
away.
The ruckus caused by the man’s death on Monday
at the international airport for Kuala Lumpur was
minor news until a thunderbolt from the South
Korean and Malaysian news media a day later: The
victim was Kim Jong-nam, 45, the estranged older
half brother of Kim Jong-un, the unpredictable and
ruthless leader of North Korea.
The death immediately turned into an
international assassination intrigue connected to
the opaque regime of the Kim family, which has
ruled North Korea for more than 60 years.
It came as Kim Jong-un, 33, who has ordered
scores of subordinates executed when he
questioned their fealty, has further shaken up the
ranks of his closest aides, purging the chief of the
secret police less than two weeks ago. In addition,
Kim Jong-un has stoked a new international crisis
with a ballistic missile launching and threats of
more nuclear weapons tests.
N. Korean official: How Kim's uncle really
died
In North Korea's version of the story, nope. "He
was shot to death," the country's ambassador to
the United Kingdom, Hyun Hak Bong, tells Sky
News in what may be the first English-language
interview with a top Pyongyang official, Fox News
notes.
While calling on South Korea to end its military
exercises and the U.S. to give up its "hostile
policy," the subject of Jang Song Thaek came up.
Jang was pardoned "on several occasions when he
made wrong-doings in the past," but this time, his
crimes went "beyond the red line," and he was
executed.
"He spent 4.6 million euro in 2009 alone. He made
tremendous crimes against the government,
against the people, against the country," Hyun
continued. "So they enlarged a meeting of the
party and handed (him) over to the legal system.
So the special Military Court of the Ministry of
State Security put him on trial, he confessed to
what he did wrong and according to article 60 of
the Criminal Code of DPR Korea he was executed."
As to the report that Jang's whole family was also
killed, "This is the political propaganda by our
enemies," the ambassador said, but he stopped
short of issuing a denial. "I know he was punished
but if his family were punished or not, I don't
know."