SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country is nearing its goal of \u201cequilibrium\u201d in military force with the United States, as the United Nations Security Council strongly condemned the North\u2019s \u201chighly provocative\u201d ballistic missile launch over Japan on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The North\u2019s official Korean Central News Agency carried Kim\u2019s comments on Saturday \u2014 a day after U.S. and South Korean militaries detected the missile launch from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It traveled 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) as it passed over the Japanese island of Hokkaido before landing in the northern Pacific Ocean. It was the country\u2019s longest-ever test flight of a ballistic missile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The North has confirmed the missile as an intermediate range Hwasong-12, the same model launched over Japan on Aug. 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under Kim\u2019s watch, North Korea has maintained a torrid pace in weapons tests, including its most powerful nuclear test to date on Sept. 3 and two July flight tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could strike deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The increasingly frequent and aggressive tests have added to outside fears that the North is closer than ever to building a military arsenal that could viably target the U.S. and its allies in Asia. The tests, which could potentially make launches over Japan an accepted norm, are also seen as North Korea\u2019s attempt to win greater military freedom in the region and raise doubts in Seoul and Tokyo that Washington would risk the annihilation of a U.S. city to protect them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The KCNA said Kim expressed great satisfaction over the launch, which he said verified the \u201ccombat efficiency and reliability\u201d of the missile and the success of efforts to increase its power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the English version of the report was less straightforward, the Korean version quoted Kim as declaring the missile as operationally ready. He vowed to complete his nuclear weapons program in the face of strengthening international sanctions, the agency said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos published by North Korea\u2019s state media showed the missile being fired from a truck-mounted launcher and a smiling Kim clapping and raising his fist while celebrating from an observation point. It was the first time North Korea showed the missile being launched directly from a vehicle, which experts said indicated confidence about the mobility and reliability of the system. In previous tests, North Korea used trucks to transport and erect the Hwasong-12s, but moved the missiles on separate firing tables before launching them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. Security Council accused North Korea of undermining regional peace and security by launching its latest missile over Japan and said its nuclear and missile tests \u201chave caused grave security concerns around the world\u201d and threaten all 193 U.N. member states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kim also said the country, despite \u201climitless\u201d international sanctions, has nearly completed the building of its nuclear weapons force and called for \u201call-state efforts\u201d to reach the goal and obtain a \u201ccapacity for nuclear counterattack the U.S. cannot cope with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs recognized by the whole world, we have made all these achievements despite the U.N. sanctions that have lasted for decades,\u201d the agency quoted Kim as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kim said the country\u2019s final goal \u201cis to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military option for the DPRK,\u201d referring to North Korea\u2019s official name, the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He indicated that more missile tests would be forthcoming, saying that all future drills should be \u201cmeaningful and practical ones for increasing the combat power of the nuclear force\u201d to establish an order in the deployment of nuclear warheads for \u201cactual war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prior to the launches over Japan, North Korea had threatened to fire a salvo of Hwasong-12s toward Guam, the U.S. Pacific island territory and military hub the North has called an \u201cadvanced base of invasion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Security Council stressed in a statement after a closed-door emergency meeting that all countries must \u201cfully, comprehensively and immediately\u201d implement all U.N. sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japan\u2019s U.N. Ambassador Koro Bessho called the missile launch an \u201coutrageous act\u201d that is not only a threat to Japan\u2019s security but a threat to the whole world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bessho and the British, French and Swedish ambassadors demanded that all sanctions be implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Calling the latest launch a \u201cterrible, egregious, illegal, provocative reckless act,\u201d Britain\u2019s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said North Korea\u2019s largest trading partners and closest links \u2014 a clear reference to China \u2014 must \u201cdemonstrate that they are doing everything in their power to implement the sanctions of the Security Council and to encourage the North Korean regime to change course.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France\u2019s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the country is ready to work on tougher U.N. and EU measures to convince Pyongyang that there is no interest in an escalation, and to bring it to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friday\u2019s launch followed North Korea\u2019s sixth nuclear test on Sept. 3 in what it described as a detonation of a thermonuclear weapon built for its developmental ICBMs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hwasong-12 and the Hwasong-14 were initially fired at highly lofted angles to reduce their range and avoid neighboring countries. The two Hwasong-12 launches over Japan indicate North Korea is moving toward using angles close to operational to evaluate whether its warheads can survive the harsh conditions of atmospheric re-entry and detonate properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While some experts believe North Korea would need to conduct more tests to confirm Hwasong-12\u2032s accuracy and reliability, Kim Jong Un\u2019s latest comments indicate the country would soon move toward mass producing the missiles for operational deployment, said Kim Dong-yub, an analyst at Seoul\u2019s Institute for Far Eastern Studies. He also said that the North is likely planning similar test launches of its Hwasong-14 ICBM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a liberal who initially pushed for talks with North Korea, said its tests currently make dialogue \u201cimpossible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf North Korea provokes us or our allies, we have the strength to smash the attempt at an early stage and inflict a level of damage it would be impossible to recover from,\u201d said Moon, who ordered his military to conduct a live-fire ballistic missile drill in response to the North Korean launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
___<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lederer reported from the United Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country is nearing its goal of \u201cequilibrium\u201d in military force with the United States, as the United Nations Security Council strongly condemned the North\u2019s \u201chighly provocative\u201d ballistic missile launch over Japan on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":52246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["flashpoints"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"4":{"categories":["flashpoints","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"6":{"categories":["flashpoints","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"7":{"categories":["flashpoints","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"}}},"categories":[100,8,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5053],"class_list":["post-24107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FV5WNFTENVAVZCTPOJYL4AZLK4","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2017\/09\/16\/defiant-north-korea-leader-says-he-will-complete-nuke-program\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n