The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has issued a strong condemnation following North Korea’s ballistic missile launch on 6 January 2025.
An FCDO spokesperson described the event as “another breach of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” warning that such “unlawful ballistic missile launches continue to destabilise the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula.”
The UK urged Pyongyang to cease provocations, return to dialogue, and take credible steps toward denuclearisation.
The missile test, reported by North Korean state media as a successful trial of a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile (IRBM), marks the country’s first launch since November 2024. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly oversaw the test and pledged to accelerate the nation’s nuclear and missile programmes.
The test coincided with a visit to South Korea by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who reaffirmed commitments to bilateral and trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan to address North Korea’s growing military capabilities.
North Korea’s claim of the missile’s range—reportedly 1,500km—has been disputed by South Korea. State media added that the missile utilised carbon fibre technology, which could suggest advancements in Pyongyang’s missile capabilities.
Wonderful stuff from the FCDO. That will deffo put the wind up them
Rocket Man must be quaking in his boots at that.
Hypersonic lol
iRBM are by nature hypersonic.
Pyongyang: “in that case we will cease provocations”
I am sure that HMG is aware that the Soviets invented the world’s first ICBM, the R-7, with first flight in 1957 and operational in a field unit in 1959.
China first flew the Dongfeng-5 ICBM in 1971 and fielded it in 1981.
North Korea first developed an ICBM capability (experimental Hwasong-13) in 2012.
The UK and our bases in Cyprus are easily within range of North Korea’s Hwasong-14 ICBM (HE or nuc payload and tested in 2017) and the Taepedong-2 Satellite Launch Vehicle which can easily be configured to carry a 1000kg warhead in the re-entry vehicle. The heavier Hwasong-15 ICBM is in development.
Only now is our Government waking up to the threat of ballistic missiles (including ICBMs) and realiing that we have no credibly strong defence.