US, S Korea send North Korea missile warning

South Korea and the United States fired off missiles yesterday simulating a precision strike against North Korea's leadership, in response to a landmark ICBM test described by Kim Jong-Un as a gift to "American bastards".

Tuesday's launch acknowledged as an ICBM by Washington marked a milestone in Pyongyang's decades-long drive for the capability to threaten the US mainland with a nuclear strike, and poses a stark foreign policy challenge for Donald Trump.

The US president had vowed that "won't happen", but independent experts said it could reach Alaska or even further towards the continental US.

It will require a reassessment of the threat posed by the nuclear-armed North, which has carried out five atomic tests and said the multi-stage rocket's warhead could survive atmospheric re-entry to strike a target.

Yesterday, Trump lashed out at China, pointing to a surge in its trade with North Korea as evidence that US reliance on Beijing to rein in Pyongyang was misplaced.

"Trade between China and North Korea grew almost 40% in the first quarter. So much for China working with us - but we had to give it a try!" Trump said in an early morning tweet.

Amid international condemnation of the test, South Korean and US military forces launched short-range ballistic missiles of their own less than 24 hours afterwards from the peninsula into the Sea of Japan.

Both weapons homed in on their target, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "displaying the capability of a precision strike against the enemy headquarters in times of emergency".

The South's new President Moon Jae-In, who backs engagement with Pyongyang to bring it to the negotiating table, said the North's "serious provocation required us to react with more than just a statement".

US general Vincent Brooks, the Combined Forces commander in South Korea, said: "Self restraint, which is a choice, is all that separates armistice and war." 

Source: AFP