Biden on red alert as North Korea releases images it claims were taken from space

Pyongyang’s state-owned news agency, KCNA, sent Mr Biden a chilling warning when it announced that the Hwasong-12 missile could even reach Guam, a US Pacific territory.

The agency said the rocket test was actually launched to “verify its accuracy”. The latest launch marked the seventh missile to be blasted from North Korea already just in January 2022.

The weapon reportedly soared in the sky for 800km and reached heights of up to 2,000km at its maximum altitude.

It later crashed down into the sea between Japan and the Korean peninsula.

One of the pictures released shows a missile blasting off from its launcher near the border with China-North Korea.

In some others, the images said to be taken from space were reportedly snapped by a camera installed on the missile.

The move has come as North Korea had been hoping to press Biden into re-entering nuclear talks, experts have suggested.

The missile launch was the country’s biggest since 2017 (Image: Reuters)

And North Korea’s recent rocket activity has sparked outrage among the international community.

In fact, a package of UN sanctions bans North Korea from launching ballistic and nuclear weapons tests.

But Pyongyang is furious about these sanctions and regularly speaks out about the ban.

Now, the Biden administration even appears to be keen to slap down some more.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters: “We believe it is completely appropriate and completely correct to start having some serious discussions.”

Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, was reportedly absent from the launch.

But just three weeks ago, he was snapped attending another launch, this time of hypersonic missiles.

And the US reacted in fury.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US “will use every appropriate tool” to stop North Korea from testing and using missiles and nuclear weapons “which constitute a serious threat to international peace and security and undermine the global nonproliferation regime”.

But the latest frenzy of tests may be an attempt to get the US to change its policy towards the country, some experts have suggested.

Back in 2019, North Korea withdrew from nuclear talks and said it will not re-enter discussions them until the US drops its “hostile policy.”

But despite the threats from North Korea, so far the US policy has remained the same.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said: “I would strenuously object to the idea that these sanctions indicate anything other than a genuine effort to constrain North Korea’s – in this case, their ballistic missile programs.”

“We continue to enact measures that put constraints on these WMD and ballistic missile programs, that hold proliferators and other bad actors accountable for their activity.”

Washington has even offered talks “without preconditions”, but Mr Jong-un has demanded that the sanctions be removed before negotiations could start.

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