N.Korea's ballistic missile poses challenge to US, China

NEW YORK – 15 September 2017: North Korea's latest launch of intermediate-range ballistic missile on Friday represents a direct challenge to the United States and China just days after a new sanctions resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council, the New York Times newspaper said in a report on Friday.

The missile was not aimed at the Pacific island of Guam, which President Donald Trump had warned could prompt a military response after North Korea threatened to fire missiles into the sea near the island last month, newspaper stated.

The newspaper noted that the missile blasted off from near the Sunan International Airport north of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, and flew about 2,300 miles directly east, flying over northern Japan and falling into the Pacific Ocean, according to the South Korean military.

The newspaper quoted a senior American military official as saying that the missile was meant as a warning that the primary American bomber base in the Pacific, which would be central to any military action on the Korean Peninsula, was within easy reach of the North’s intermediate-range missiles.

The launching came at the end of the working day at the White House but senior officials gathered in the Situation Room to weigh a response, the newspaper further said.

Neither the United States nor Japan tried to shoot down the missile, perhaps because it was clear moments after the launching that it was not aimed at land, the newspaper added.