[Yonhap News Photo]
North Korea's Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile reached space and then re-entered Earth's atmosphere in its sixth test attempt last week, a US defense official confirmed, saying the launch would be a success if Pyongyang had designed the test that way.
"We saw the missile launch. We saw it go up into space and come back down 250 miles away in the Sea of Japan. If that was their intent, then it was a success. But you'd have to ask them," Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters.
"This might have been, but it's really their test and they knew what the parameters are and only they could say if it met those objectives or not," he said.
It was believed to be the first time the US has confirmed the performance of the North's missile launch.
A day after Wednesday's test of the missile believed to be capable of reaching the US territory of Guam, the North claimed success, saying the missile entered space before successfully re-entering the atmosphere and landing in targeted waters about 400 kilometers away.
The launch marks important progress in the North's missile program as re-entry technology has been considered one of the hardest obstacles the North must overcome before developing a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
