A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news programme at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. Photo / AP
A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news programme at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. Photo / AP
North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japanese waters today in its second major weapons test this month that showed a potential ability to launch nuclear strikes on all of the US mainland.
The North’s ongoing torrid run of weapons tests aims to advance its nuclear arsenal and win greater concessions in eventual diplomacy and they come as China and Russia have opposed US moves to toughen sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea’s nuclear programme.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the ICBM launch from North Korea’s capital region about 10.15am and the weapon flew toward the North’s eastern coast across the country. Japan said the ICBM appeared to have flown on a high trajectory and landed west of Hokkaido.
According to South Korean and Japanese estimates, the North Korean missile flew about 6000-6100km at a maximum altitude of 1000km.
Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters the altitude suggests the missile was launched on a high angle. He said depending on the weight of a warhead to be placed on the missile, the weapon has a range exceeding 15,000km, “in which case it could cover the entire mainland United States”.
Hamada called the launch “a reckless act that threatens Japan as well as the region and the international community”.
He said Japan would continue to cooperate closely with the United States, South Korea and other countries to coordinate a joint response to North Korean provocations.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff called the launch “a grave provocation and serious threat” to undermine international and regional peace and security. It said South Korea maintains readiness to make “an overwhelming response to any North Korean provocation” amid close coordination with the United States.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in Bangkok to attend a regional summit, earlier told reporters the missile was believed to have landed at sea inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone west of Hokkaido, Japan’s main northern island.
North Korea also launched an ICBM on November 3, but experts said that weapon failed to fly its intended flight and fell into the ocean after a stage separation. That test was believed to have involved a developmental ICBM called Hwasong-17. North Korea has two other types of ICBM — Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15 — and their test-launches in 2017 proved they could potentially reach parts of the US homeland.
The Hwasong-17 has a longer potential range than the others, and its huge size suggests it’s designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads to defeat missile defence systems. Some experts say the November 3 test showed some technological progress in the development of the Hwasong-17, given that in its earlier test in March, the missile exploded soon after liftoff.
South Korea’s presidential office said it convened an emergency security meeting to discuss the North Korean launch.
North Korea has performed many shorter-range missile tests and artillery displays this year but had halted weapons launches for about a week before it fired a short-range ballistic missile on Thursday.
Before Thursday’s launch, the North’s foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, threatened to launch “fiercer” military responses to the US bolstering its security commitment to its allies South Korea and Japan.
Choe was referring to President Joe Biden’s recent trilateral summit with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts on the sidelines of a regional gathering in Cambodia. In their joint statement, the three leaders strongly condemned North Korea’s recent missile tests and agreed to work together to strengthen deterrence. Biden reaffirmed the US commitment to defend South Korea and Japan with a full range of capabilities, including its nuclear arms.
Choe didn’t say what steps North Korea could take but said “the US will be well aware that it is gambling, for which it will certainly regret”.
Pyongyang sees the US military presence in the region as proof of its hostility towards North Korea. It has said its recent series of weapons launches was its response to what it called provocative military drills between the United States and South Korea.
There have been concerns that North Korea might conduct its first nuclear test in five years as its next major step towards bolstering its military capability against the United States and its allies.
North Korea has been under multiple rounds of UN sanctions over its previous nuclear and missile tests. But no fresh sanctions have been applied this year though it has conducted dozens of ballistic missile launches, which are banned by UN Security Council resolutions.
That’s possible because China and Russia, two of the UN council’s veto-wielding members, oppose new UN sanctions. Washington is locked in a strategic competition with Beijing and in a confrontation with Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
