According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, three projectiles – two short-range missiles followed by a intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – were launched, Thursday, November 3, from the North towards the Sea of Japan. “The launch of an ICBM by North Korea was likely to end in failure” during the separation of the second stage of the rocket, claimed the South Korean military.
According to the South Korean army, this missile traveled 760 km at a maximum altitude of 1,920 km and at the speed of Mach 15 (15 times the speed of sound). The other two missiles traveled about 330 km at Mach 5 and a maximum altitude of 70 km. Air-raid sirens sounded for the second consecutive day on the South Korean island of Ulleungdo, located 120 km east of the Korean peninsula, local media reported.
“The continuous barrage of missiles day after day is an outrage and cannot be tolerated”Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday. This launch “underlines the need for all countries to fully implement Security Council resolutions” sanctioning North Korea, said US State Department spokesman Ned Price. On October 4, a North Korean ballistic missile flew over Japan for the first time in five years.
On Wednesday, North Korea had already fired 23 missiles, one of which had crossed the “Northern Limit Line” (NLL) which extends the inter-Korean land border at sea, while remaining in international waters.
According to the South Korean military, it was the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953 that a North Korean projectile ended its course so close to southern territorial waters.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday that the shooting constituted “a de facto territorial invasion”. Authorities in the South have closed several air corridors over the Sea of Japan to “ensure the safety of passengers on routes to the United States and Japan”.
The North Korean army then carried out around 100 artillery fire near the inter-Korean border in the east of the peninsula. The South retaliated by launching three missiles at sea, near the area where one of the North’s projectiles had landed.
This show of force by Pyongyang comes at a time when South Korea and the United States are carrying out the largest air exercises in their history in the region. North Korea considers this type of maneuver as a dress rehearsal for a future invasion of its territory.
The United States condemned the firing of the intercontinental ballistic missile and called for strict enforcement of UN sanctions against Pyongyang.
This launch “stresses the need for all countries to fully implement Security Council resolutions“sanctioning North Korea,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.