North Korea is seeking military "equilibrium" with the United States as a way to stop American leaders from talking about military options for dealing with Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un said after supervising the launch of another missile over Japan.
And North Korea would continue to run "full speed and straight" toward achieving this goal, Kim told his top missile unit, according to the latest statement from his state news agency.
For the second time in three weeks, North Korea on Friday sent an intermediate-range missile over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It traveled for 2,300 miles in an easterly direction, landing in the Pacific Ocean. But if it had been launched south-eastward, it could easily have passed the U.S. territory of Guam, some 2,100 miles from the launch site in Pyongyang.
Kim, the North Korean leader who has pressed ahead with alarming speed on his state's nuclear and missile programs, has been threatening to "envelop" Guam with missiles if the United States does not stop its "hostile policy" toward the North.
In the latest statement, Kim said that North Korea's "final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military option[s]."