North Korea said it conducted a “test launch of a new type” of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday, according to the state-run KCNA news agency.
Japan warned earlier on Friday that the missile had the potential to reach the US mainland.
KCNA claimed the “new” missile was a Hwaseong-17 and said it was launched from Pyongyang International Airport and flew a distance of 999.2 km (621 miles).
The state news agency also released several still images of leader Kim Jong Un, who reportedly oversaw the launch.
The ICBM was launched at around 10:15 local time from the Sunan district of North Korea’s capital Pyongyang. The South Korean General Staff (JCS) reported. The US said it was a “brazen” violation of UN resolutions.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said it likely fell in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), about 210 kilometers (130 miles) west of the Japanese island of Oshima Oshima, according to the Japanese coast guard. He did not fly over Japan.
“North Korea continues to carry out provocative actions with an unprecedented frequency,” Kishida told reporters on Friday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. “I want to repeat that we cannot accept such actions.”
The Japanese government will continue to collect and analyze information and provide timely updates to the public, he said. So far, there have been no reports of damage to ships at sea, Kishida added.
After directing the ICBM launch on Friday, Kim said North Korea should “clearly demonstrate its stronger will to retaliate against hysterical aggressive war exercises by enemies who seek to destroy peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region,” referring to the US and South Korea
He also warned that his country would receive a “more aggressive” response if the US “makes a military bluff on the Korean Peninsula and the surrounding area,” according to KCNA.
“Kim Jong Un has formally stated that if enemies continue to pose threats to the DPRK by frequently introducing nuclear attack means, our Party and government will resolutely respond with nuclear weapons and all-out confrontation with all-out confrontation,” it said. KCNA.
The ICBM traveled at 22 times the speed of sound, the JCS said, adding that details were being analyzed by intelligence authorities in South Korea and the US.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said it had the potential to reach the US mainland. “The ICBM-class ballistic missile launched this time could have a range of more than 15,000 km when calculated based on the flight distance of this ICBM,” Hamada said in a statement. “It depends on the weight of the head, but in this case, the continental US would be included in the range.”
It is not the first time North Korea has launched an ICBM that experts and officials have estimated could theoretically reach the US.
Friday’s missile was shorter in height and distance compared to Pyongyang’s March 24 missile test, which recorded the highest height and longest duration of any North Korean missile ever tested, according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA ). That missile reached a height of 6,248.5 kilometers (3,905 miles) and flew a distance of 1,090 kilometers (681 miles), KCNA said.
And in 2017, then-US Defense Secretary James Mattis said a missile launched by North Korea that year had demonstrated the ability to hit “everything in the world”.
On Friday morning, US Vice President Kamala Harris gathered on the sidelines of the APEC summit with leaders from Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Canada to condemn the launch, in a previously unscheduled briefing media.
“I have asked this group of allies and partners to join us in condemning North Korea’s launch of a long-range ballistic missile,” he said. “I have also asked them to participate so that we as allies and partners can consult on next steps. This behavior by North Korea most recently is in flagrant violation of multiple UN security resolutions. It destabilizes security in the region and unnecessarily increases tensions.”
A senior government official described the missile as a “further escalation,” due to its long-range capability and ability to reach the US mainland.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol also ordered the “active execution” of enhanced extended deterrence measures against North Korea.
The President said Seoul will strengthen its alliance with Washington and strengthen its defense posture and security cooperation with the US and Japan.
“The administration will not tolerate North Korea’s provocations,” his office said in a statement. “The administration has overwhelming responsiveness and willingness to react immediately to any North Korean provocations, so North Korea should not misjudge this.”
He added that North Korea has nothing to gain through continued provocations, while warning that sanctions against the North will be strengthened, further isolating Pyongyang internationally.
Calling the launch a “significant provocation and serious act of threat”, the JCS warned the North of violating the UN Security Council resolution and urged it to stop immediately.
Misawa Air Force Base issued a shelter-in-place alert after the missile was fired, according to US Air Force Col. Greg Hignite, director of public affairs for US forces in Japan. It has now been lifted and the US military is still analyzing the flight path, he said.
US President Joe Biden has been informed of the missile launch and his national security team will “continue to consult closely with Allies and partners”, National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement on Friday.
“The door is not closed on diplomacy, but Pyongyang must immediately stop its destabilizing actions and instead choose diplomatic engagement,” Watson said. “The United States will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and the Republic of Korea and Japanese allies.”
Friday’s launch comes a day after Pyongyang fired a short-range ballistic missile into waters off the east coast of the Korean peninsula and issued a stark warning to the United States of a “harder military response” to its closer defense ties with South Korea. and Japan.
It is the second suspected test launch of an ICBM this month — a missile launched earlier on Nov. 3 appeared to have failed, a South Korean government source told CNN at the time.
The aggressive acceleration of weapons tests and rhetoric has raised alarm in the region, with the US, South Korea and Japan responding with missile launches and joint military exercises.
Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said North Korea is “trying to disrupt international cooperation against it by escalating military tensions and suggesting it has the ability to put American cities at risk of nuclear attack.” .
North Korea has conducted missile tests on 34 days this year, sometimes launching multiple missiles in a single day, according to a CNN count. The tally includes both cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, with the latter making up the majority of North Korea’s tests this year.
There are substantial differences between these two types of missiles.
A ballistic missile is launched by a rocket and travels out of the Earth’s atmosphere, gliding through space before re-entering the atmosphere and descending, powered only by gravity on its target.
A cruise missile is powered by a jet engine, remains in the Earth’s atmosphere during its flight, and is maneuvered with control surfaces similar to those of an airplane.
Ankit Panda, senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that while he would not see Friday’s alleged ICBM launch “as a message, per se,” it could be seen as part of North Korea’s “process” . to develop capabilities that Kim has identified as necessary to modernize their nuclear forces.”
US and international monitors have warned for months that North Korea appears to be preparing for an underground nuclear test, with satellite images showing activity at the nuclear test site. Such a test would be the hermit nation’s first in five years.
Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said the ICBM test was designed to validate parts of North Korea’s missile program, which Kim Jong Un has pledged to do this year.
The recent short-range tests “are exercises for front-line artillery units practicing pre-emptive nuclear strikes,” Lewis said.
He rejected any political or negotiating message from the tests.
“I wouldn’t think of these tests as primary markers. North Korea is not interested in talking right now,” Lewis said.
