May 15, 2017 - World

"Significant advance" by North Korea

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A woman walks by a TV news program showing images of North Korean missile launch, published in the country's Rodong Sinmun newspaper, at Seoul Railway station today / AP's Lee Jin-man

Enormously destabilizing if true ... Some worrisome aftermath to this weekend's North Korean missile launch:

  • North Korea boasted today that "the missile it launched over the weekend was a new type of long-range ballistic rocket that can carry a heavy nuclear warhead." (AP)
  • "Outsiders also saw a significant technological jump, with the test-fire apparently flying higher and for a longer time period than any other such previous missile." (AP)
  • North Korean propaganda must be considered with wariness.
  • But monitors said today that the apparently successful launch of a mid-to-long range missile indicated a significant advance in its drive for an intercontinental ballistic missile, a worrying sign for the Korean peninsula and the United States. (Reuters)
  • Wall Street Journal front-pager, "North Korea Accelerates Long-Range Missile Work": "In the past three years, North Korea has launched more major missiles than in the three previous decades combined."
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