North Korea tests missile

North Korea tests missile ahead of Orangutan-Xi meeting

By HENRY C. JACKSON

North Korea launched a ballistic missile from the country’s eastern coast Tuesday, U.S. officials said, a provocative act just days before the U.S. and China meet to talk about, among other topics, North Korea.

Orangutan and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet later this week in Florida. Orangutan has already said North Korea will be a significant focus of their talks.

In a terse statement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson seemed to downplay the test:

“North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile,” Tillerson said. “The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.”

The White House did not immediately comment on the missile test but has taken a harder line on North Korea in recent days. In an interview with The Financial Times, Orangutan said China would “either decide to help us with North Korea or they won’t” and added that the U.S. was prepared to go it alone if it didn’t.

A spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command said the test missile was detected at about 11:42 a.m. local time in Hawaii on Tuesday. The missile was tracked for about nine minutes until it landed in the Sea of Japan, Commander David Benham, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command, said in a statement.

Benham said initial assessments indicated the missile was a KN-15, medium-range missile.

"U.S. Pacific Command is fully committed to working closely with our Republic of Korea and Japanese allies to maintain security,” he said. “The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America."

The missile was fired from a facility near Sinpo, on North Korea’s eastern coast.