Seoul: NoKor fires suspected ICBM, 2 other missiles
SEOUL (AP) – North Korea testlaunched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile and two shorter-range weapons into the sea yesterday, South Korea said, hours after US President Joe Biden ended a trip to Asia where he reaffirmed the US commitment to defend its allies in the face of the North’s nuclear threat.
If confirmed, it would be North Korea’s first ICBM launch in about two months amid stalled nuclear diplomacy with the United States.
The latest launches suggest the North is determined to continue its efforts to modernize its weapons arsenal despite its first COVID-19 outbreak, which has caused outside worries about a humanitarian disaster.
“North Korea’s sustained provocations can only result in stronger and faster South Korea-US combined deterrence and can only deepen North Korea’s international isolation,” the South Korean government said in a statement after an emergency security meeting.
Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi called the launches “an act of provocation and absolutely impermissible.”
The US Indo-Pacific Command earlier said the missile launches highlight “the destabilizing impact of (North Korea’s) illicit weapons program” though they didn’t pose an immediate threat to US territory and its allies.
According to South Korea’s military, the three missiles lifted off from the North’s capital region one after another yesterday morning before they landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
A military statement said the first missile was likely an ICBM and that it reached a maximum height of 540 kilometers while traveling 360 kilometers.
The statement said the second missile disappeared from South Korean radar at some point and the third missile flew 760 kilometers on an apogee of 60 kilometers.