South Korea said North Korea fired a new ballistic missile on Thursday, causing fear in northern Japan.
According to South Korea’s military, the “grave provocation” missile went 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).
The rockets’ apogee, or highest altitude, has not been officially announced, but South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that it was less than 3,000km, significantly below last year’s 6,000km tests.
The White House “strongly condemned” a long-range ballistic missile launch, and the South Korean military warned it was on high alert and communicating with its key ally, the U.S.
A South Korean military official claimed the test used a new weapons system seen during North Korean military parades.
The defense ministry suspected a solid-fuel missile based on the projectile’s trajectory and range.
North Korea is building additional solid-fuel missiles, which are easier to store and carry and may be launched with little notice or preparation.
Bruce Bennett, a senior defense expert at the RAND Corporation, said North Korea had tested short-range solid-fuel missiles but not long-range ones.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was shot near Pyongyang around 7:23 a.m. (2223 GMT on Wednesday), suggesting it was launched from an international airport near the city, a primary site for test-firing big missiles since 2017.
After the launch, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida convened the National Security Council.
Yasukazu Hamada, Japan’s defense minister, claimed the missile was shot eastward at a high angle and did not fall in Japan.
Japan’s coast guard said the projectile had fallen into the sea to the east of North Korea. Hamada said he could not confirm whether the missile flew over Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Japanese authorities retracted the alert for Hokkaido island when they determined the missile would not fall nearby.
A student there told Japanese broadcaster NHK that the alert caused a momentary alarm at a train station.
“For a second in the train there was panic, but a station worker said to calm down, and people did,” the unidentified man told NHK.
The launch came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for strengthening war deterrence in a “more practical and offensive” manner to counter what North Korea called moves of aggression by the United States.
While condemning the latest in a string of North Korean missile tests, the United States renewed its offer to open talks.
“The door has not closed on diplomacy, but Pyongyang must immediately cease its destabilising actions and instead choose diplomatic engagement,” U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
North Korea has criticized recent joint military exercises between U.S. and South Korean forces as escalating tensions, stepping up its weapons tests in recent months.
Comment Template