SEOUL, South Korea (UPDATED) – For the second time in less than a month, North Korea has fired a ballistic missile over Japan on Friday, September 15 – days after the international community further tightened its sanctions over its banned weapons and nuclear program.
Here’s how the program got to where it is:
Late 1970s: North Korea starts working on a version of the Soviet Scud-B (range 300 kilometers or 186 miles). Test-fired in 1984
1987-92: Begins developing variant of Scud-C (500 km), Rodong-1 (1,300 km), Taepodong-1 (2,500 km), Musudan-1 (3,000 km) and Taepodong-2 (6,700 km)
Aug 1998: Test-fires Taepodong-1 over Japan
Sept 1999: Declares moratorium on long-range missile tests as ties with US improve
March 3, 2005: Ends moratorium on long-range missile testing, blaming Bush administration’s “hostile” policy
Oct 9, 2006: First underground nuclear test
May 25, 2009: Second underground nuclear test, several times more powerful than the first
December 13, 2011: Leader Kim Jong-Il dies, is succeeded by his son Kim Jong-Un
December 12, 2012: The North launches multi-stage rocket and successfully places satellite in orbit
February 12, 2013: Third underground nuclear test
January 6, 2016: Fourth underground nuclear test, which Pyongyang claims was hydrogen bomb
March 9, 2016: Kim Jong-Un claims the North has successfully miniaturized a thermo-nuclear warhead
April 23, 2016: North test-fires a submarine-launched ballistic missile
July 8, 2016: US and South Korea announce plans to deploy an advanced missile defense system – the US THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense)
August 3, 2016: North Korea fires a ballistic missile directly into Japanese-controlled waters for the first time
August 24, 2016: Successfully test-fires another submarine–launched ballistic missile
September 9, 2016: Fifth nuclear test
February 12, 2017: Tests ballistic missile, which flies about 500 kilometers (310 miles) before falling into the Sea of Japan
March 6, 2017: North fires 4 ballistic missiles in what is says is an exercise to hit US bases in Japan
March 19, 2017: North Korea says it has tested a new rocket engine
April 5, 2017: North Korea fires a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan
May 2, 2017: THAAD anti-missile system goes operational in South Korea
May 14, 2017: North fires what it says is a “newly-developed mid/long-range strategic ballistic rocket, Hwasong-12”, which flies 700 kilometers before landing in the Sea of Japan
May 29, 2017: Test fires a short-range ballistic missile which lands in Japan’s exclusive economic zone
June 8, 2017: North Korea launches what it claims is new type of ‘cruise rocket’
June 22, 2017: North Korea tests a rocket engine which could be fitted to an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) ahead of South Korean President Moon Jae-In’s first trip to Washington since taking office
July 4, 2017: North Korea says it successfully tests an ICBM which is capable of reaching Alaska. Kim Jong-Un says it is a gift for the “American bastards”
July 28: Second successful ICBM test
August 6, 2017: UN Security Council unanimously adopts tougher sanctions on the North
August 9, 2017: US President Donald Trump threatens Pyongyang with “fire and fury” over its missile program
Hours later, North Korea says it is considering strikes near US strategic military installations in Guam
August 29, 2017: North Korea fires a ballistic missile over Japan. Tokyo says it is an “unprecedented, serious and grave threat”
September 3, 2017: North Korean state media claims the country has developed a hydrogen bomb which can be loaded into ICBM
North conducts its 6th and largest yet nuclear test. Monitoring groups estimate a yield of 250 kilotons, which is 16 times the size of the 15-kiloton US bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945
September 4, 2017: South Korea and the US say they will deploy more anti-missile defenses
September 12, 2017: UN Security Council unanimously adopts new sanctions, slapping a ban on textile exports and restricting shipments of oil products to North Korea
September 15, 2017: North Korea fires a ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific, responding to new UN sanctions with what appears to be its furthest-ever missile flight. – Rappler.com
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