Cambo

I don't think, the DPRK missiles do have a transponder on board and as such are invisible to civil (secondary radar equipped) ATC.
Apart from that, the speed of these missiles is that high, that primary radar de-clutter can be expected to filter out the spurious missile returns as being implausible.

DPRK is not the only party sending missiles into the sky, let it fly overhead the commercial IFR airways and "allow" it to plunge down somewhere. Chinese military does do the same, where missiles do get fired in one military area, overfly the airways and come down in another military area. Pretty much of China is restricted from civil aviation and assigned for military use. (And here you have your root cause for all the "ATC-related" delays in China, there is simply not enough airspace for civil aviation).

It could very well be, big brother US does do the same in one way or another.

Such a "missile" practice is far away from the MH incident in Ukraine.

nightkhan

DPRK isn't trying to shoot down a Hong Kong plane. That was just their test ICBM which happened to re-enter within sight of the CX flight.

garykung

The CX flight is not targeted. The crews simply saw the missile (or what has left).

It is somehow difficult to target an airliner using a ICBM.

Missile testing in the U.S. is very different, as the testing is for defense purpose rather than offensive. Also - the U.S. will intentionally shut down the airspace to ensure safety.

+1

The missile used for MH 17 is a SAM (surface-to-air missile), designed specifically for anti-air. The DPRK missile is a ICBM, designed specifically for massive destruction.