(SEOUL) North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that apparently fell into Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on Saturday, Tokyo said, days before a joint military simulation exercise between Washington and Seoul.
Pyongyang “fired an ICBM-class ballistic missile in an easterly direction. It flew for approximately 66 minutes” and covered a distance of about 900 km, Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.
The flight time is similar to that of the ICBM Hwasong-17, which Pyongyang tested last November, according to the South Korean specialized site NK News.
Mr. Matsuno answered in the affirmative when a journalist asked if the missile had followed a “lofted” trajectory and explained that the possibility of it being a solid-fuel missile would be analysed.
This new missile launch could be a second test of the Hwasong-17, but could also be a test “of the solid-fuel ICBM that Pyongyang is developing and which for now has never been seen “Explained to AFP Joseph Dempsey, researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
North Korea has long been trying to develop a solid-fuel ICBM. These missiles are indeed easier to store and transport, demonstrate better stability and are quicker to prepare for launch, which makes it more difficult for them to be detected, as well as their preventive destruction by American forces.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said the missile appeared to have a flight capability of 14,000 km – which would allow it to reach the mainland United States.
“It seems that the ballistic missile fired by North Korea fell in Japan’s EEZ, west of Hokkaido,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also told reporters, explaining that he “instructed […] inform the population and thoroughly check the security situation”.
PHOTO JIJI PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
The South Korean military had earlier announced the missile launch, and said the country was maintaining “full state of readiness while cooperating closely with the United States and strengthening surveillance and vigilance”.
The launch is “a further escalation in North Korea’s efforts to hone its long-range strike capabilities,” retired South Korean general Chun In-bum told AFP. “North Korea’s message is clear: we are making steady progress toward our goal of perfecting long-range nuclear weapons.”
Military tensions rose on the Korean peninsula in 2022, when Pyongyang called its status as a nuclear power “irreversible” and conducted a record series of weapons tests, including ICBMs.
In response to its northern neighbour, Seoul conducted joint military maneuvers with the United States, its key security ally, as a means for it to convince South Korean public opinion of the American commitment to deter Pyongyang from any attack.
Saturday’s firing, the first in seven weeks, comes as the two allies prepare to conduct a simulation exercise, to be held next week in Washington, to discuss measures to be taken in the event of a use of nuclear weapons by Pyongyang.
North Korea threatened on Friday to react with “unprecedented” force to the upcoming US-South Korean maneuvers, seeing them as preparations for an armed conflict.
For An Chan-il, researcher at the head of the World Institute for North Korean Studies, this latest shot indicates that the leader of Pyongyang Kim Jong-un “has finally drawn his sword”.
No talks but no more missiles
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office in May 2022 promising to be tough on Pyongyang, has dramatically stepped up military exercises with the United States.
Seoul on Thursday called Pyongyang an “enemy” in a defense document, a term it used for the first time in six years, signaling a further hardening of its stance on North Korea.
During Pyongyang’s weapons tests last year, a missile landed south of the de facto maritime border line near South Korean territorial waters for the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
In December 2022, North Korea flew five drones into South Korean airspace, one of which crossed the no-fly zone around President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office.
Pyongyang has repeatedly said it is not interested in holding new talks, and Kim Jong-un has called for an “exponential” increase in North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.
At a military parade held in Pyongyang last week, North Korea displayed a record number of ICBMs capable of carrying nuclear warheads, as well as craft designed to carry solid-fuel ICBMs, experts said.