A NORTH Korean missile has soared to an altitude five times higher than the International Space Station, bringing Kim Jong-un’s threats of striking the US closer to reality.

Kim Jong-un looked on as the Hwasong-12 rocket was fired into the stratosphere in the early hours of a Sunday morning on May 14 near North Korea's east coast.

The missile crashed into the ocean just 490 miles away from the launch site, with North Korean propaganda networks claiming the projectile had reached an altitude of 1312 miles (2,111.5km).

But despite Kim Jong-un’s state media having a track record for making false claims of success, the governments of South Korea and Japan confirmed the vast distance travelled by the rocket.

And while the test rocket was fired directly into space, research has revealed the same rocket could reach provinces of the United States including Alaska and Guam if fired at the correct trajectory.

At the time of the launch, North Korean state media said the missile had been launched at such a high angle "in consideration of the security of neighbouring countries”.

Joshua Pollack of the US based Nonproliferation Review confirmed the test missile was fired directly into space in a bid to avoid sparking all-out war within the Korean peninsula by striking another country.

He said: ”To avoid firing long-range missiles into or over Japan, the North Koreans have been launching them nearly straight up instead.

"They fly much higher into space that way, but come back down relatively close to their launch points."

It is not the first time Kim Jong-un has fired a missile into space beyond the orbit of the International Space Station, but the Hwasong-12 signals a significant step forward in the military capability of the warmongering state.

In 2016 the young dictator’s Musudan missile flew to an altitude of over 621 miles (1,000km) before crashing into the ocean.

In April Kim’s cruel regime vowed to wipe the US “off the face of the Earth” after claiming Donald Trump has moved chemical weapons to the North Korean border as part of his “wild ambition to dominate the world”.

The hermit kingdom, who regularly accuse the west of aggression and war crimes without presenting evidence, said the US “is sadly mistaken” if they expect a passive response from Pyongyang.

A government spokesperson added: “The DPRK will never remain a passive onlooker to the moves of the US to provoke a biochemical war against it but will conclude the standoff with the US, the empire of evils, by wiping it off the face of the Earth.

“The US must not disregard the warning of the DPRK that its reckless military moves would lead to its most miserable final doom.”

Share This Post