New ballistic missile firing | What is North Korea playing?

On Friday, North Korea fired a ballistic missile that fell back into the Sea of ​​Japan after traveling a distance of about 1,000 km. And President Kim Jong-un warned the West that he would answer nuclear with nuclear. What happened and what should we remember?

What happened ?

At around 10:15 a.m. local time, the South Korean military detected a ballistic missile fire from North Korea. The missile is said to have taken off from the Sunan region, located north of the capital Pyongyang, heading east. It would have crashed some 1000 km further, off the island of Hokkaido, located in the north of the Japanese archipelago. The missile reached an altitude of 6000 km before falling. Japan believes that the impact took place, without causing damage, inside its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

How did Western countries react?

Vividly and very badly. Because it is one of the most powerful missile tests carried out by North Korea. And because this country has recently multiplied the tests of missiles, ballistic or not, with 88 launches since the beginning of 2022. The Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, described the gesture as “absolutely unacceptable”. The White House claimed the gesture is a “brazen violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and unnecessarily escalates tensions.” In the following hours, Japan and the United States held a very important Air Force exercise.

And what was North Korea’s reaction?

Pyongyang “will resolutely react to nuclear weapons with nuclear weapons and to an all-out confrontation with a merciless confrontation”, declared the North Korean leader quoted by the KCNA agency. According to a dispatch from this agency, Kim Jong-un himself supervised the missile launch on Friday.

Did North Korea take advantage of the presence of Western leaders at the APEC summit in Bangkok to make this shot?

“It suggests a certain synchronization,” says Thomas Hughes, postdoctoral researcher at the Center for International and Defense Policy at Queen’s University in Ontario. When a country proceeds to such a shot, it is to send a message or to change the behavior of an adversary. It’s hard to decode what North Korea is trying to say in the short term. But in the long term, we want to make the whole world, and in particular the United States, understand that we have this ability to launch ballistic missiles. »

What are the characteristics of an ICBM, like the one launched by Pyongyang?

ICBM stands for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. As the name suggests, it can hit another continent from its starting point. Its range is several thousand kilometers. These missiles are propelled by rocket engines (acceleration phase) and part of their trajectory goes beyond the atmosphere, before descending. These missiles can carry one or more nuclear warheads.

What about North Korean ballistic missiles?

The country tested its first ICBMs in 2017. The missile fired Friday would be a Hwasong-17, one of the newest and most powerful in the North Korean arsenal. In all likelihood, it did not contain nuclear warheads. Launched at a more normal angle, it can theoretically cross the Pacific Ocean. But the one launched on Friday never threatened American territory, the White House said. According to experts consulted by the New York TimesNorth Korea has never demonstrated that its warheads resist friction and heat when they reenter the atmosphere.

What causes concern, then?

Progress. “Every time they shoot [un missile], they learn, says John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House. Even if the launch is a failure or a partial success, they learn. This is also what Thomas Hughes said to The Press. “Nations must carry out tests before saying that they have this or that weapon. That’s what North Korea is doing with ICBMs, he says. They did it a lot in 2022. We can see the results. Ultimately, I believe they will try to put a nuclear warhead on the end of their missile. »

Is North Korea taking advantage of divisions in the UN Security Council to advance its military research?

Thomas Hughes believes so. “The Security Council has its eyes on Ukraine, which is the most serious problem,” he said. But the division, especially with Russia which is blocking several resolutions, can serve the North Koreans. »

With Agence France-Presse, CNN and the New York Times