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North Korea In a new round of launches on Thursday, an intercontinental ballistic missile was unsuccessfully launched, South Korea’s military says it’s working with Washington Urge all countries to impose sanctions on Pyongyang.
In response to the launch, South Korea and the United States said they would extend ongoing joint air drills, the largest ever of their kind — a move that Pyongyang immediately called an “irreparable and horrific mistake.”
People in parts of northern Japan were ordered to seek shelter amid North Korea’s latest launch, including five short-range missiles, and a blitz was fired on Wednesday.
However, South Korea’s military said Thursday’s biggest launch “presumably ended in failure.”
The United States condemned the launch of the ICBM.
Also read | North Korea fires ballistic missile at Japan: Japanese government
“This action underscores the need for all countries to fully implement North Korea-related UN Security Council resolutions,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said, using North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Washington also confirmed information provided by the South Korean military, which earlier said it had detected the launch of a long-range ballistic missile in Pyongyang’s Sunnam area at around 7:40 a.m. (2240 ​​GMT Wednesday). .
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the ICBM appeared to have failed during the “second-stage separation.”
“The long-range ballistic missile has a range of approximately 760 kilometers (470 miles), an altitude of 1,920 kilometers, and a speed of Mach 15,” the military said.
It also detected “two short-range ballistic missiles believed to have been launched from Gachon, South Pyongan Province at around 8:39 am”.
Three more short-range ballistic missiles were subsequently fired into the East China Sea, also known as the Sea of ​​Japan, later in the day, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul.
The South Korean military “maintains a full combat readiness posture while closely cooperating with the United States, enhancing surveillance and vigilance,” the report said.
– ‘Shocked and scared’ –
Pyongyang fired more than 20 missiles on Wednesday, including one that landed near South Korean territorial waters, triggering an airstrike alert on Ulleungdo, about 130 kilometers off the country’s east coast.
“We were shocked and scared because nothing like this had happened before. We didn’t know where to take refuge,” said Cai Yingxin, a 52-year-old shop owner on the island.
On Wednesday, a short-range ballistic missile crossed the northern limit of the de facto maritime border, prompting President Yoon Si-yeol to call it a “de facto territorial invasion.”
The launch comes as Seoul and Washington hold the largest-ever joint aerial exercise, involving hundreds of fighter jets from both sides.
Pyongyang called the exercise, called “Vigilance Storm,” an “aggressive and provocative military exercise against North Korea.”
The drills were due to end on Friday, but the South Korean Air Force said on Thursday that it would extend air drills with the United States in response to the latest launch.
Pyongyang said it was “a very dangerous and wrong choice” and warned that “provocative military actions” by Washington and Seoul were bringing the situation into an “uncontrollable stage.”
The United States “and South Korea will know what a terrible and irreversible mistake they have made,” Park Jong-chon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
Tokyo confirmed Thursday’s launch, with the Japanese government issuing a special warning to residents in the northern region to stay indoors or seek shelter.
Tokyo initially said the ICBM had flown over Japan, prompting the release of the “J-Alert”, but Defense Minister Yasushi Hamada later said “the missile did not pass over the Japanese archipelago, but disappeared over the Sea of ​​Japan”.
– ‘Tactical Nuclear Exercise’ –
Washington and Seoul have repeatedly warned that a recent missile launch by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could lead to the culmination of another nuclear test — which would be Pyongyang’s seventh.
“Tactical nuclear weapons testing is likely next. Probably soon,” tweeted Chad O’Carroll of Seoul-based professional website NK News.
Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean studies scholar, agrees.
“These are North Korea’s celebrations ahead of the imminent nuclear test,” he told AFP.
“They also appear to be a series of practical tests for their tactical nuclear deployment.”
North Korea revised its laws in September to allow for a pre-emptive nuclear strike, and leader Kim declared the country an “irreversible” nuclear power — effectively ending talks over its banned weapons program.
On October 4, North Korea fired a missile over Japan, which also triggered an evacuation warning. It was North Korea’s first missile launch at Japan since 2017.
Pyongyang later claimed the Blizzard, which was launched at about the same time and other tests, was a “tactical nuclear exercise” simulating the launch of a nuclear missile at South Korea.
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