According to the South Korean military, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), but it failed mid-flight.
The ICBM launch, the seventh by the North this year, prompted an alert in Japan, but the missile fell short and landed in the sea.
There are suspicions that North Korea will soon execute a nuclear test, which is heightening tensions.
Wednesday, both Koreas fired missiles near their territorial waters. The North launched the greatest number of missiles in a single day during the exchange.
North Korea’s several launches coincide with the United States and South Korea’s largest-ever joint air exercises, which Pyongyang has harshly criticized as “aggressive and provocative.”
Thursday at approximately 07:40 local time (23:40 GMT), North Korea launched a long-range missile, according to a statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. A source told that the object was an ICBM.
It traveled around 760 km (472 miles) and reached a height of approximately 1,920 kilometers.
The launch was presumed to have failed, according to the South Korean military.
Additionally, Pyongyang launched two short-range ballistic missiles.
The launches prompted the Japanese government to issue an unusual emergency alert to inhabitants of some northern districts on Thursday morning, advising them to remain indoors.
Tokyo first stated that the missile had flown over Japan; however, Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada later stated that the missile “did not cross the Japanese archipelago, but vanished over the Sea of Japan.”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida criticized North Korea’s repeated missile launches as “outrageous” in a later statement.
The United States stated that the launch underscored the danger posed by North Korea’s missile program to its neighbors and international peace and security.
State Department spokesman: “Our commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains unwavering.”
During a Thursday phone chat, South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman reportedly described the launches as “deplorable and immoral.”
After the ICBM launch, the United States and South Korea decided to prolong their joint air exercises beyond Friday, according to the South Korean Air Force.
It occurred less than a month after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years.
As tensions have increased, North Korea has conducted a record number of missile tests this year.
Pyongyang conducted six nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017 despite crushing sanctions and is believed to be contemplating the seventh test.
It has continued to develop its military capabilities in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, posing a threat to its neighbors and potentially bringing the U.S. mainland within range of attack.
One of Pyongyang’s ballistic missiles crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the disputed maritime border between the Koreas, during Wednesday’s firing.
It landed outside of South Korean territorial waters, but it was the closest a North Korean missile ever came to the border.
In response, Seoul fired three air-to-ground missiles that also breached the contested maritime delimitation boundary. On Wednesday, it fired a total of 23 missiles.
According to Kim Jong-Dae, a visiting scholar at Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies, they were launched from numerous locations across the country.
“South Korea and the United States think they can precisely target the source of the provocation if they can pinpoint its origin. North Korea poses multidimensional, systemic, and simultaneous threats that they can launch (missiles) from any place on their territory, as there are launch sites throughout the country. This is a circumstance I’ve never encountered before “He told YTN, a local news station.
Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Woman University, told that North Korea is likely to conduct a seventh nuclear test to demonstrate its nuclear capabilities and resolve in light of the recent escalation in activities since late September.
“It is unreasonable to expect North Korea to denuclearize, given that it seeks de facto nuclear state status to negotiate with the United States.”
