North Korea raises the ante in nuclear stand-off with launch of biggest ICBM

North Korea test-fired possibly its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile toward the sea yesterday, according to its neighbours, raising the ante in a pressure campaign aimed at forcing the United States and other rivals to accept it as a nuclear power and remove crippling sanctions.

The launch, which extended North Korea’s barrage of weapons tests this year, came after the US and South Korean militaries said the country was preparing a flight of a new large ICBM first unveiled in October 2020.

South Korea’s military responded with live-fire drills of its own missiles launched from land, a fighter jet and a ship, underscoring a revival of tensions as nuclear negotiations remain frozen.

It said it confirmed readiness to execute precision strikes against North Korea’s missile launch points as well as command and support facilities.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the North’s ICBM fired from the Sunan area near the capital Pyongyang travelled 670 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of more than 3,850 miles.

The missile was apparently fired on high angle to avoid reaching the territorial waters of Japan.

Japan’s deputy defence minister Makoto Oniki said flight details suggested a new type of ICBM.

“It’s an unforgivable recklessness. We resolutely condemn the act,” Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida said after arriving in Belgium for the Group of Seven meetings.

The missile flew 71 minutes before possibly landing near Japanese territorial waters off the island of Hokkaido, said Tokyo’s chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno. Japan may search for debris inside its exclusive economic zone to analyse the North’s technology, he said.

Japan’s coast guard issued a warning to vessels in nearby waters, but there were no immediate reports of damage to boats or aircraft. Japanese

fisheries organisations released a statement denouncing the launch as a “barbaric act” that puts fishermen’s lives and livelihoods at risk.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in during an emergency national security council meeting criticised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for breaking a self-imposed moratorium on ICBM tests and posing a “serious threat” to the region and the broader international community.

The United States strongly condemns the North’s launch, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki, calling it a “brazen violation” of UN Security Council resolutions that risks destabilising the region’s security. It was North Korea's 12th round of weapons launches this year and came after it fired suspected artillery pieces into the sea on Sunday.

Experts say the North's unusually fast pace in testing activity underscore its dual goal of advancing its weaponry and applying pressure on Washington over a deepening freeze in nuclear negotiations.

The North conducted two medium-range tests from near its capital area in recent weeks that the US and South Korean militaries later assessed as involving components of the North's largest ICBM, the Hwasong-17, which they said could be tested at full range soon.