The Korea flashpoint is in danger of escalating out of control and into a nuclear war by miscalculation. The missile that North Korea launched on Feb. 18 was, according to Pyongyang, a Hwasong-15. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the launch was organized “suddenly” without prior notice, at the direct order of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, reported the Associated Press. AP noted that the flight details reported by North Korea show that the weapon is theoretically capable of reaching the U.S. mainland if fired in a standard trajectory, rather than the lofted trajectory that North Korea typically uses for these types of test flights.
The Hwasong-15 launch demonstrated the North’s “powerful physical nuclear deterrent” and its efforts to “turn its capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces” into an extremely strong one that cannot be countered, KCNA said.
