Breaking News – U.S. Defense Official Confirmed Last N.Korea’s KN-17 Launch Was Successful
U.S. Defense officials confirmed that North Korea’s latest missile launch was successful. The unidentified missile was a KN-17 medium long-range missile. The KN-17 is a liquid fuel single-stage missile. In boasting of the successful launch, the North Koreans called it a “medium long-range” ballistic rocket that can carry a heavy nuclear warhead.
The official added that the missile’s re-entry vehicle did successfully re-enter the atmosphere. The re-entry was controlled and the vehicle did not burn up and it landed in the sea near Russia.
The latest launch was the first successful test of the missile. Three previous launches, in April, ended in failure.
The first test of the KN-17 likely occurred on April 5, 2017, when the missile was launched from Sinpo in the South Hamgyong province of North Korea. According to U.S. Pacific Command, the missile flew a distance of 60 km and reached a height of 189 km before starting to “pinwheel,” landing into the Sea of Japan after 9 minutes of flight time.
The second suspected launch of the KN-17 occurred on April 16, 2017 from the same base in Sinpo and was also considered to be a failure, blowing up just seconds after launch.
The third suspected KN-17 test occurred on April 29, 2017. The missile is presumed to have launched from Pukchang airfield and flew approximated 35 km before crashing.
In response, U.S dispatched a second aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) for joint exercise with USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) in water of the Korean peninsula.