The United States President, Donald Trump has vowed to slap new ‘major sanctions’ on North Korea after the country test-launched it’s most powerful Intercontinental ballistic missile with the capability of hitting all parts of the US mainland. Trump who had threatened to rain ‘fire and fury’ on North Korea disclosed his displeasure over the recent provocation in a tweet posted on Wednesday. He hinted that he had a conversation with Chinese President, Xi Jinping and warned of major sanctions.
The tweet read;
“Just spoke to President XI JINPING of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!”
According to Al Jazeera, North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un personally supervised the ICBM test and expressed his "great satisfaction". The report also said he extended "heartfelt gratitude to all those who took part in the development of the new type rocket weapon system".
The missile reached an altitude of 4,500km with analysts estimating it could fly a distance of 13,000km - potentially giving North Korea the ability to strike any American city it chooses to.
The missile launch in the early hours of Wednesday was the first since September 15 when North Korea fired a ballistic missile over the Japanese island of Hokkaido, eventually crashing into the Pacific Ocean.
A statement issued by Korean Central News Agency read in part;
"The ICBM Hwasong-15 soared to the highest altitude of 4,475km and made a flight over the distance of 950km for 53 minutes before making an accurate landing in the preset waters in the open sea. With this system, the DPRK has become possessed of another new-type inter-continental ballistic rocket weaponry system capable of carrying super-heavy nuclear warhead and attacking the whole mainland of the US," it added.
