On Thursday a little after 1 p.m. EST, according to the Pentagon, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Pentagon spokesman Col. Robert Manning stated that the missile was launched from Sain Ni, North Korea, and traveled roughly 620 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan, according to CBS News. Manning also stated that the launch did not pose a threat to “North America, our territories or our allies.”
A U.S. intelligence official informed CBS News that the Trump Administration was “not surprised,” and there were “plenty” of recent “indications” that a missile would be launched.
President Trump asserted, “We will take care of it. We have General Mattis in the room with us to have a discussion on it. It is a situation that we will handle.”
Last week, the Trump administration returned North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terrorism and implemented new sanctions on North Korean shipping firms and Chinese trading companies doing business with North Korea.
According to David Wright, the co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ global security program, North Korea’s latest missile could possibly fly 8,100 miles on a normal trajectory, far enough to strike the entire continental United States.
NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg also chimed in: