Seoul: North Korean missile exploded in air in failed launch
Seoul (AP): A North Korean missile fired from its capital region exploded in mid-air in an apparent failed launch on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, amid speculation that the North could soon launch its biggest long-range missile in its most significant provocation in years.
Details of the missile explosion weren't immediately known. But the launch, the 10th of its kind this year, shows North Korea is determined to press ahead on its push to modernize its weapons arsenal and pressure its rivals into making concessions amid dormant denuclearization talks.
The North Korean missile blew up while it was flying at an altitude of about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles), a South Korean military official said requesting anonymity because he wasn't publicly authorized to speak to media on the issue. He said the cause of the explosion wasn't known.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier said in a statement that the launch made from the Pyongyang region around 9:30 a.m. apparently failed. It said South Korean and US intelligence authorities were analyzing details of the launch.
The US Indo-Pacific Command later said that North Korea fired a ballistic missile but didn't say whether it was a failed launch. A command statement said the launch didn't pose an immediate threat to US territory and its allies but called on North Korea to refrain from further destabilizing acts.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that a flight of a ballistic missile has not been confirmed and that Tokyo is working with Washington and Seoul to further analyze what happened.
Experts say past failures still have moved North Korea closer to its goal of acquiring a viable nuclear arsenal that could threaten the American homeland. Of eight Musudan intermediate-range missiles tests in 2016, only one of those launches was seen by outside analysts as successful, which led to debates of whether North Korea's path toward ICBMs had been cut off.
However, the North in 2017 flew more powerful intermediate-range missiles over Japan and conducted three successful test-flights of ICBMs that demonstrated a potential range to strike deep into the US mainland.
North Korea's successful satellite launches in 2012 and 2016 which were viewed by the UN as disguised tests of its long-range missile technology also followed repeated failures.
The US and South Korean militaries said last week that North Korea had tested an ICBM system in two recent launches, referring to the developmental Hwasong-17 missile that North Korea unveiled during a military parade in October 2020.
In the two recent launches on February 27 and March 5, the North Korean missiles flew medium-range distances, and experts have said North Korea could eventually perform a full-range ICBM test.
The North has said it tested cameras and other systems for a spy satellite and released what it said were photos taken from space during one of the two tests, but it didn't confirm what rocket or missile it launched.
Observers say North Korea aims to boost its ICBM capability while trying to place its first functioning spy satellite into orbit. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to acquire an improved ICBM and a spy satellite among an array of sophisticated weapons systems he says his country needs to cope with what he calls American hostility.
The Hwasong-17 is North Korea's biggest missile, which could potentially fly up to 15,000 kilometers (9,320 miles), far enough to strike anywhere in the US and beyond. The 25-meter (82-foot) missile, which was shown again at a defense exhibition in Pyongyang last year, has yet to be test-launched.
The three ICBMs that North Korea tested in 2017 were the Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15. Some analysts say developing a larger missile could mean the country is trying to arm its long-range weapons with multiple warheads to overcome missile defense systems.
If North Korea makes a new ICBM launch, it would be its highest-profile weapons tests since its third and last ICBM launch in November 2017.
North Korea will likely call its potential new ICBM test a rocket launch to place a reconnaissance satellite in space, not a weapons test. That could invite condemnation but likely no fresh UN sanctions, some analysts say, since Russia and China wield vetoes on the Security Council and would oppose it.
Other North Korean missiles tested this year were mostly shorter-range, nuclear-capable weapons which place South Korea and Japan, both key U.S. allies, within striking distance. In January alone, North Korea carried out seven rounds of missile tests, a record number of monthly tests since Kim took power in late 2011.
US-led diplomacy aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear program collapsed in 2019 due to wrangling over US-led sanctions on the North. Washington has urged North Korea to return to talks without any preconditions, but Pyongyang has rejected such overtures saying the United States must first withdraw its hostile policies.
In January, North Korea hinted at lifting its 4-year moratorium on ICBM and nuclear tests. South Korea's Defense Ministry said Friday it detected signs that North Korea likely is restoring some of the tunnels at its nuclear testing site that it detonated ahead of the now-dormant nuclear diplomacy.
The US Treasury Department last week announced new sanctions against three Russian-based entities that aided ongoing development of North Korea's military capabilities and two individuals tied to those companies. The sanctions block access to any US assets held by them.
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New govt in Maharashtra to be formed on Dec 5, Fadnavis frontrunner for CM post: BJP leader
Mumbai (PTI): Mahayuti alliance's new government in Maharashtra will be formed on December 5 with Devendra Fadnavis emerging as the frontrunner to become the next chief minister again, a senior BJP leader said on Saturday.
In the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls, the Mahayuti alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) retained power, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats. The BJP emerged as the single largest party, winning 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 57 and NCP with 41 seats.
However, even after the announcement of poll results a week ago (on November 23), the formation of the government has been delayed as the tripartite alliance is yet to decide on who will be the next chief minister. Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar met BJP president J P Nadda and Union minister Amit Shah late Thursday to discuss a power-sharing pact for the next government.
A key Mahayuti meeting scheduled on Friday was put off and likely to take place on Sunday now as caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde headed to his native village in Satara district, delaying government formation further.
The BJP leader, who did not wish to be quoted, said the swearing-in of the new government will take place on December 5.
Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who was the chief minister twice and deputy chief minister in the last government, is the frontrunner for the top post, the leader said.
Another senior BJP leader said the chief minister's swearing-in ceremony will take place at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
But before that, a meeting will be held on December 2 to pick the BJP legislature party leader, he said.
Caretaker CM Shinde has made it clear that he will fully support BJP leadership's decision to name the next CM, and that he won't be a hurdle in the process, while Ajit Pawar-led NCP has backed Fadnavis for the chief minister's post.
In the assembly elections, Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a setback. The grand old party registered one of its worst performances in the state assembly polls after it won only 16 seats. Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) could bag only 10 seats, whereas Uddhav Thackeray's (UBT) won 20.
