North Korea Predicted to Fire Horizontal Intercontinental Missile 2018

WASHINGTON (AFP) - North Korea has shocked the world after testing vertical or cross-border Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) into space last month. The country is predicted to be able to fire the ICBM horizontally in 2018.

The prediction of Kim Jong-un's regime ability was conveyed by Asia Pacific expert Evan Medeiros. According to former White House adviser of President Barack Obama's era, firing the ICBM horizontally becomes Pyongyang's main ambition to target the eastern coast of the United States, such as New York City, which is 10,916km from Pyongyang.

During the vertical shoot test last month, ICBM Hwasong-15 claimed to be capable of racing as far as 4.475km.

"I do not think Kim Jong-un is finished," he told the Asian community in New York, referring to the subsequent ambitions of the young North Korean dictator.

"I think holy grail for him really has a fully operational ICBM and has a nuclear power that can reach the United States," he said.

"I do not think he has that ability and can convince others that he has that ability until he does a full horizontal test," he explained.

"The tests (missiles) they have done to date are what are called bell-jumps. You shot him really very high on the vertical trajectory and got him down, "continued Medeiros.

"And you can test any full trajectory without actually flying a satellite dish, and I think they need to show it," he added.

According to Medeiros, North Koreans can achieve such a goal next year. "Their worst manifestation was that they carried out the test and eventually did a nuclear air explosion to tell the world, not only have nuclear-capable ICBMs, but the warheads did work," he said, as quoted by news.com on Friday (15 / 12/2017).

Medeiros said that the White House should really look at the threat. "We must be aware that the military option is very much on the table," he said. "This is something that is being debated seriously and discussed in the administration of Trump."

Many analysts believe that North Korea's weapons test objective is to encourage the United States to hold diplomatic talks with the communist state and ultimately legitimize Kim Jong-un regime in the eyes of the world.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that Washington is willing to negotiate with North Korea at any time and without preconditions. But, within 24 hours later, Tillerson's remarks contradict the White House which insists that it is not the right time to negotiate with the Pyongyang regime.

"Negotiations will not happen until Kim's regime fundamentally improves his behavior," a White House official told Reuters.