Yahoo News North Korea 'tests ballistic missile' amid reports Pyongyang stating war 'imminent'
North Korea test-fires ballistic missile
Trump says North Korea 'disrespected the wishes of China'
Reports Pyongyang saying war 'imminent'
North Korea: attempts to get rid of nuclear weapons 'wild dream'
North Korea could develop a missile capable of reaching the US warns Homeland Security Secretary
North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile in the early hours of Saturday morning, reports in South Korea said, amid rising military tensions with the US.
The missile, launched from a region north of the capital, Pyongyang, appeared to have blown up a few seconds into flight, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.
US officials said the missile did not leave North Korean territory and was probably a medium-range missile known as a KN-17.
North Korea bizarre kim jong-un
It was the second failed test of a ballistic missile this month and came amid a flurry of rhetoric from North Korea warning of "imminent" war against the US.
Graphic: The military build-up
"North Korea fired an unidentified missile from a site in the vicinity of Bukchang in Pyeongannam-do (South Pyeongan Province) early this morning," Yonhap reported, quoting a statement issued by South Korea's military. "It is estimated to have failed."
Donald Trump, the US president, said that North Korea "disrespected the wishes of China" with the missile test.
North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its highly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today. Bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2017
On Friday, Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, warned that failure to curb North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes could lead to "catastrophic consequences".
He called for a greater enforcement of UN sanctions against North Korea and requested the help of the rest of the world in pressuring North Korea to step back from its military threats.
China said it was not only up to Beijing to solve the North Korean problem.
"The key to solving the nuclear issue on the peninsula does not lie in the hands of the Chinese side," Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister said.
North Korea's deputy UN ambassador responded by stating US efforts to get rid of his country's nuclear weapons through military threats and sanctions were "a wild dream".
Mr Trump told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that a "major, major conflict" with North Korea was possible over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
The top US military commander in the Pacific warned earlier this week that North Korea could strike American soil.
"I don't share your confidence that North Korea is not going to attack either South Korea, or Japan, or the United States ... once they have the capability," Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the US Pacific Command, told Congress.
He was defending the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile defence system by the US in South Korea.
The move was “in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile threat”, a US military statement said, amid concerns that Pyongyang was planning its sixth nuclear test since 2006.
UN Security Council united in demanding North Korea surrenders nuclear weapons
France's U.N. ambassador says the U.N. Security Council is "mobilized" and unanimous on the need to denuclearise North Korea.
Francois Delattre said at the United Nations after North Korea's apparently failed missile launch Saturday that while there were "nuances" on policy to be worked out among council members, there is unanimity on the need for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.
North Korea fired the missile hours after the Security Council held a ministerial meeting on Pyongyang's escalating weapons program. North Korean officials boycotted the meeting, which was chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Delattre says the council must be "very firm" implementing sanctions, adopting new ones if necessary and denouncing North Korea's human rights record.
South Korea presidential front-runner says North Korea's missile launch futile
The front-runner in South Korea's presidential election sees North Korea's latest attempted missile launch on Saturday as "an exercise in futility", his spokesman said.
"We urge again the Kim Jong Un regime to immediately stop reckless provocative acts and choose the path to cooperate with the international community including giving up its nuclear programme," Park Kwang-on, a spokesman for Moon Jae-in, said in a statement, referring to the North Korean leader.
"That is a way to save itself, not a way to self-destruct," Park said.
North Korea test-fired a missile earlier on Saturday, which disintegrated after several minutes into the flight, U.S. and South Korean officials said.
South Korea's presidential election is on May 9.
North Korea 'could develop a missile capable of reaching the US' warns Homeland Security Secretary
John Kelly, the Homeland Security Secretary, has given a stark assessment of the threat posed by Pyongyang.
Previous administrations had tried and failed to persuade the North Koreans to behave more responsible, Mr Kelly he told CNN. "They tried and failed, I don't blame them. It has fallen under this president that they will have a workable missile that can reach the United States, though not all of it."
The impact of such a missile would be catastrophic, he added.
Mr Kelly did not think the latest test was a response to Donald Trump's most recent remarks.
"They are not fast enough to put a missile launch together just on what the president said last night," he said.
"The missile technology is pretty complicated and they have some pretty good scientists, but they don't have the people like we have or in the same numbers."
U.S. 'could speed up North Korea sanctions in response to missile test'
Quoting an American official, Reuters is reporting that the Trump administration could respond to North Korea's latest failed missile test by speeding up its plans for new U.S. sanctions against Pyongyang, including possible measures against specific North Korean and Chinese entities.
With North Korea acting in defiance of pressure from the United States and North Korea's main ally, China, Washington could also conduct new naval drills and deploy more ships and aircraft in the region as a show of force, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"It's possible that something could be sped up," the official said of the potential for imposing a limited package of targeted sanctions on North Korea. "Something that's ready to go could be taken from the larger package and expedited."
The source said the ballistic missile launch was the kind of "provocation" that had been anticipated ahead of South Korea's May 9 election, and President Donald Trump could use the test-firing to further press China to do more to rein in North Korea.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the missile fired from a region north of Pyongyang was probably a medium-range missile known as a KN-17 and appears to have broken up within minutes of taking off.
Should North Korea test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile as it has threatened, Washington would consider it a more dangerous milestone, the administration official told Reuters, suggesting it would draw a much tougher U.S. response.
The Trump administration is especially worried about Pyongyang's work to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States. Washington is also watching closely for the possibility of North Korea's sixth nuclear test.
Japan protests North Korea's latest missile test
Japan has protested the latest missile launch by North Korea.
Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the ballistic missile firing would be "a clear violation of UN security council resolutions."
He added that Japan "cannot accept repeated provocation by North Korea" and had "lodged a strong protest against North Korea."
Japan has become increasingly concerned in recent weeks about the possibility of a North Korean missile attack targeting Japan or US forces stationed in Japan.
Trump: North Korea 'disrespected China'
Donald Trump has said that North Korea "disrespected the wishes of China" with the missile test.
Ballistic missile did not leave N.Korean territory -U.S. military
The US military has said it tracked the ballistic missile launch but the missile did not leave North Korean territory and did not pose a threat to North America.
Commander Dave Benham, a spokesman for US Pacific Command, said the missile launch took place at 10:33 a.m. Hawaii time (2033 GMT) from near the Pukchang airfield.
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the missile was probably a medium-range missile known as a KN-17 and appears to have broken up within minutes of taking off.
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US official says North Korean test was likely of a medium-range ballistic missile
US official says North Korean test was likely of a medium-range ballistic missile; it broke up minutes after launch, AP reports.
Missile test 'appears to have failed'
Yonhap news agency said the missile appeared to have blown up a few seconds into flight.
US President Donald Trump told Reuters in an interview on Thursday a "major, major conflict" with North Korea was possible over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Trump praised Chinese leader Xi Jinping for "trying very hard" to rein in Pyongyang.
'Unidentified missile' fired by North Korea
"North Korea fired an unidentified missile from a site in the vicinity of Bukchang in Pyeongannam-do (South Pyeongan Province) early this morning," Yonhap reported, quoting a statement issued by South Korea's military.
'We have to bring Kim Jong-un to the negotiating table'
Mark Warner, a Democrat senator and vice chairman of the intelligence committee, has told CNN;
“This is where we have got when we have two bellicose, belligerent leaders, both ratcheting up the rhetoric. I believe Japan, South Korea and the allies have to stand up strong. We have to bring Kim Jong-un to the negotiating table, not to his knees."
'Catastrophic consequences'
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned earlier on Friday that failure to curb North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs could lead to 'catastrophic consequences,' while China and Russia rebuked Washington's threat of military force, Reuters reports.
The showdown in a meeting of the UN Security Council on North Korea highlighted the diplomatic challenges of resolving tensions over Pyongyang, with the Trump administration aggressively pressing Beijing to rein in its ally, and China and Russia pushing back against Washington's rhetoric.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the 15-member council it was not only up to China to solve the North Korean problem.
"The key to solving the nuclear issue on the peninsula does not lie in the hands of the Chinese side," Wang told the council in blunt remarks that Tillerson later rebuffed.
North Korea test fires ballistic missile, according to reports
Hello and welcome to our live coverage as North Korea test-fires a ballistic missile from a region north of its capital, Pyongyang, Yonhap news agency reported citing South Korea's military.
There were no immediate details about the missile or its flight, Yonhap said.
