SEOUL — North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un has promised more missile flights over Japan, insisting his nuclear-armed nation’s provocative launch was a mere “curtain-raiser,” in the face of UN condemnation and US warnings of severe repercussions.

The Hwasong-12 intermediate-range missile that Pyongyang unleashed on Tuesday represented a major escalation of tensions over its weapons programs.

In recent weeks it has threatened to send a salvo of missiles towards the US territory of Guam, while President Donald J. Trump has warned of raining “fire and fury” on the North.

After the latest launch Mr. Trump said that “all options” were on the table, reviving his implied threat of preemptive US military action just days after congratulating himself that Mr. Kim appeared to be “starting to respect us.”

The UN Security Council — which has already imposed seven sets of sanctions on Pyongyang — said in a unanimous statement the North’s “outrageous” actions “are not just a threat to the region, but to all UN member states.”

Both the North’s key ally China and Russia, which also has ties to it, backed the US-drafted declaration, but it will not immediately lead to new or tightened sanctions.

The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, mouthpiece of the North’s ruling party, on Wednesday carried more than 20 pictures of the launch near Pyongyang. One showed Mr. Kim smiling broadly at a desk with a map of the Northwest Pacific, surrounded by aides.

Another showed him gazing upwards as the missile rose into the air.

South Korea’s military said Tuesday that it had traveled around 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of 550 kilometers.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) cited Mr. Kim as saying that “more ballistic rocket launching drills with the Pacific as a target in the future” were necessary.

Tuesday’s launch was a “meaningful prelude to containing Guam, advanced base of invasion,” he said, and a “curtain-raiser” for the North’s “resolute countermeasures” against ongoing US-South Korean military exercises which the North regards as a rehearsal for invasion.

Wednesday’s statement was the first time the North has acknowledged sending a missile over Japan’s main islands. Two of its rockets previously did so, in 1998 and 2009, but on both occasions it claimed they were space launch vehicles.

Independent analysts posted images online suggesting that Mr. Kim’s map showed an intended flight path of 3,200 kilometers, implying that the missile may have fallen 500 kilometers short. A South Korean defense official told AFP they were still analyzing the North’s images.

‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’
Tuesday’s missile overflight triggered consternation in world capitals and on the ground, with sirens blaring out and text message alerts in Japan warning people to take cover.

“Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “All options are on the table.”

At the Security Council emergency meeting US ambassador Nikki Haley warned that “enough is enough” and that tough action had to be taken.

“It’s unacceptable,” Ms. Haley said. “They have violated every single UN Security Council resolution that we’ve had, and so I think something serious has to happen.”

But despite Washington’s rhetoric, US officials privately echo the warning by Mr. Trump’s now former chief strategist Steve Bannon — that a preemptive strike against the North is impossible given its capacity to inflict massive retaliation on the South.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a briefing Wednesday that Beijing would make a “necessary response” to the launch, but said consensus would be needed on any fresh set of sanctions.

Pyongyang last month carried out its first two successful tests of an intercontinental ballistic missile, apparently bringing much of the US mainland into range, but the Pentagon said Tuesday’s launch was judged not to have represented a threat.

Any missile fired by the North at Guam would have to pass over Japan, and analysts told AFP that Pyongyang appeared to have chosen Tuesday’s trajectory as a “half-way house” option to send a message without crossing a red line.

Nevertheless Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was nevertheless visibly unsettled, dubbing the launch an “unprecedented, serious and grave threat.”

KCNA said the launch was timed to mark the 107^th anniversary of the “disgraceful” Japan-Korea treaty of 1910, under which Tokyo colonized the Korean peninsula.

It ushered in a period of oppressive rule that only ended with Japan’s defeat in the Second World War and is resented by Koreans on both sides of the divided peninsula, complicating the relationship between Tokyo and Seoul — both of them US allies. — AFP

TOKYO — Japan is worried the United States has so far declined to arm it with a powerful new radar, arguing the decision makes the US missile defense system it plans to install much less capable of countering a growing North Korean threat, three sources said.

Japan wants to have a land-based version of the Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) system operational by 2023 as a new layer of defense to help counter North Korea’s missile advances.

Yet, without the new powerful radar, known as Spy-6, Japan will have to field the system with existing radar technology that has less range than a new generation of BMD interceptor missiles, the sources who have knowledge of the discussion told Reuters. That could mean that while the interceptor has enough range to strike a missile lofted high into space, the targeting radar may not be able to detect the threat until it is much closer.

Japanese officials have witnessed a demonstration of Spy-6 technology, which boosts the range of BMD radars dozens of times, but efforts to secure the equipment from their ally have come to naught.

“So far all we have got to do is smell the eel,” said one of the officials, referring to a savory fried eel dish popular in Japan.

The military threat to Japan deepened on Tuesday when Pyongyang fired an intermediate range ballistic missile over Japan’s northern Hokkaido island. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe slammed the action as “reckless” and “unprecedented.”

Japan’s Defense Ministry and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

IRONCLAD
Washington’s reluctance to share the radar may make Tokyo feel more vulnerable to North Korean attack and blunt US efforts to assure Japan about its commitment to defend its East Asian ally as tensions in the region intensify.

The new US Ambassador to Japan, William Hagerty, dubbed their security partnership as the “greatest on earth” in his first meeting with Mr. Abe on Aug 18.

The US’ top general, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford described that alliance as “ironclad” in talks with the Chief of Staff of Japan’s Self Defense Forces, Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano the same day.

Still, a pledge to let Japan have Spy-6 has not been forthcoming. Japan has not yet placed an order for Aegis Ashore, but has informally asked Washington to let it have the new radar technology.

“There is no guarantee that Japan is going to get it,” said another of the sources. The US Navy supports giving Japan the new radar, the source said, but may be thwarted by reluctance from the Missile Defense Agency, which is responsible for developing BMD technology.

Officials there are wary to release advanced technology, even to a close ally, before the United States has fielded the technology. The United States’ first Spy-6 equipped Aegis warship is not slated to begin operations before 2022, one of the sources said.

Tokyo will need permission to use Spy-6 well ahead of that roll out date to give the maker, Raytheon Co and Aegis system integrator Lockheed Martin Corp time to build and test the system.

Any decision to hold back Spy-6 could therefore add significantly to Japan’s already rising bill for missile defense by forcing it to pay to upgrade or replace Aegis Ashore systems after deployment.

Tokyo plans to build two Aegis Ashore batteries, costing around $700 million each without missiles, the sources said. That would mean its southwestern Okinawa island chain would likely be protected by one of Japan’s existing BMD warships.

The Aegis system’s new SM-3 Block IIA defensive missiles, designed to hit warheads Pyongyang may try to fire over its missile shield, can fly more than 2,000 km — about twice the distance of the current SM-3 missiles.

The interceptor missiles will cost around $30 million each, the sources added. — Reuters