On Tuesday North Korea launched yet another ballistic missile, with at least one expert on the matter warning that the latest launch could signal the gravest threat against the United States to date.
The missile was fired from a base just south of the hermit kingdom's capital city of Pyongyang early Wednesday morning local time, reported Pentagon spokesman Robert Manning.
It traveled 600 miles before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, similar to previous launches from the authoritarian country. However, North Korea's latest launch is unprecedented in the height it achieved during flight.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the launch was especially alarming because of how high it flew.
"It went higher, frankly, than any previous shot they’ve taken," Mattis said. "It is a research and development effort on their part to continue building ballistic missiles that can threaten everywhere in the world basically."
Nuclear weapons expert David Wright, with the Union of Concerned Scientists, agreed with Mattis, saying that the missile could easily have hit "any part of the continental United States" if flown on a standard trajectory.
"This is significantly longer than North Korea’s previous long-range tests," Wright said in a statement. "Such a missile would have more than enough range to reach Washington, DC."
Source: nydailynews.com
