North’s new missile launch a dud: South Korea

Seoul

South Korea’s defence ministry detected the dawn launch effort, which Japan condemned as an unacceptable and “provocative” act. The ministry declined to speculate on the missile type, but military sources cited by local media said it was a powerful, medium-range “Musudan” that has already undergone three failed launches this year.

UN resolutions ban North Korea from any use of ballistic missile technology, although it regularly fires short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast. Tuesday’s effort came with tensions still running high on the divided Korean peninsula following the North’s fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch a month later. “We believe that it was a failure,” said Jeon Ha-Gyu, spokesman for the South Korean Joint  Chiefs of Staff. “As to why and how it failed, we are in the process of analysing that,” Jeon told a press briefing. “We are maintaining a strong defence  posture with potential further provocations by the North in mind,” he added.

In April, the North failed three times to test fire a “Musudan”, which has an estimated range of anywhere between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometres. The lower range covers  South Korea and Japan, while the upper range would include US military bases on Guam. First unveiled as an indigenous missile at a military parade in Pyongyang in October 2010, the Musudan has never been successfully flight-tested.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported the newly promoted vice-chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers Party, Ri Su-yong, arrived in China on Tuesday.