N. Korea fires ICBM capable of striking US off Japan coast

NORTH Korea carried out its second major weapons test this month when it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile near Japanese waters on Friday.

The missile in question showed a potential ability to launch nuclear strikes on all of the U.S. mainland.

The United States quickly condemned the launch and vowed to take “all necessary measures” to guarantee the safety of its territory and its allies South Korea and Japan.

Vice President Kamala Harris met with the leaders of those countries and of Australia, Canada and New Zealand who are attending a regional forum in Bangkok to discuss the launch.

“We again call for North Korea to stop further unlawful, destabilizing acts. On behalf of the United States, I reaffirm our ironclad commitment to our Indo-Pacific alliances,” Harris said at the start of the meeting. “Together the countries represented here will continue to urge North Korea to commit to serious and sustained diplomacy.” North Korea’s recent torrid run of weapons tests aims to advance its nuclear arsenal and win greater concessions in future diplomacy. It comes as China and Russia have opposed U.S. moves to toughen U.N. sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea’s nuclear program.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the ICBM launch from North Korea’s capital region around 10:15 a.m. Japan said it appeared to fly on a high trajectory and land west of its island of Hokkaido.

According to South Korean and Japanese estimates, the missile flew 6,0006,100 kilometers (3,600-3,790 miles) at a maximum altitude of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said that depending on the weight of a potential warhead, the missile had a range exceeding 15,000 kilometers (9,320 miles), “in which case it could cover the entire mainland United States.”

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the launch “needlessly raises tensions” and shows that North Korea is prioritizing unlawful weapons programs over the well-being of its people. “Pyongyang must immediately cease its destabilizing actions and instead choose diplomatic engagement,” Watson said.

In his opening comments at the meeting in Bangkok, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the launch “utterly unacceptable,” saying the missile fell inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone west of Hokkaido.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said the international community must work together to get North Korea to realize that each of its provocations only deepens its international isolation and economic hardship.

Later Friday, South Korea’s military said its F-35 fighter jets conducted drills simulating aerial strikes on North Korean mobile missile launchers at a firing range near its land border with North Korea. It said a group of eight South Korean and U.S. fighter jets separately performed flight training off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast.

The exercises “showed we have a strong resolve to sternly deal with an ICBM launch and any other provocations and threats posed by North Korea, and the allies’ overwhelming capacity and readiness to launch precision strikes on the enemy,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.