| Pentagon Confirms N. Korea's Missile Reentered Atmosphere |
| 2016-06-28 Updated. |
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 The Pentagon says that a Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile launched by North Korea last week reached space and then reentered Earth's atmosphere.
Pentagon Spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis made the confirmation at a press conference on Monday, adding the U.S. saw the missile go up into space and come back down 400 kilometers away toward the Pacific.
It is the first time the U.S. confirmed the reentry of a North Korean missile, a technology deemed to mark substantial progress in Pyongyang's missile development program.
Diplomatic sources said in order for a missile reentry technology to be assessed as a success, it should meet many requirements, such as the precise separation of the body and the warhead in the process of entering outer space. The missile should also be able to withstand the forces of reentering Earth's atmosphere, including the ability to hold out against temperatures up to seven-thousand degrees Celsius.
Davis said the North’s missile could be assessed to be a success if the regime had designed the test that way.
However, he withheld making an official evaluation, saying the previous five tests all failed.
Davis said that it was North Korea’s test and only the regime could say if it met those objectives or not.
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