US detects North Korea missile launch
US detects North Korea missile launch
Washington (CNN)The
US detected a ballistic missile launch out of North Korea at
approximately 10:45 am eastern time on Friday, the Pentagon confirmed to
CNN.
They are assessing the launch and will have more soon.
Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Japanese broadcaster NHK: "I have
received the first report that North Korea again launched a missile and
it possibly landed inside the exclusive economic zone."
Japan's
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missile launched by
North Korea possibly flew for approximately 45 minutes.
Suga
told reporters there is no damage to any vessel or aircraft -- adding
that the missile is believed to have fallen in Japan's exclusive
economic zone.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff have also confirmed that North Korea fired an unidentified missile.
The
Pentagon is still working to assess the type of ballistic missile that
was launched -- the ongoing assessment from the US intelligence
community in recent months has been that North Korea has accelerated its
intercontinental range ballistic missile program.
The
US believes that North Korea will be able to launch a reliable
nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by early 2018,
a US official familiar with the latest intelligence assessment
confirmed to CNN Wednesday.
That
would be an acceleration of two years from previous estimates that put
Pyongyang three to five years from fully developing long-range missile
capabilities.
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