NewsRescue
According to Japanese defence sources, North Korea has tested a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking any target on the US mainland. As tensions on the Korean Peninsula rise, Pyongyang’s latest missile launch has prompted international censure.
The missile, which was fired on Monday at 8:24 a.m. local time (11:24 p.m. Sunday GMT), travelled for 73 minutes and reached around 1,000 kilometres (621 miles), according to Tokyo’s defence ministry. It reached a maximum altitude of about 6,000 kilometres (3,730 miles) before crashing into waters west of Hokkaido island, beyond Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Shingo Miyake, Japan’s parliamentary vice-minister of defence, said the missile had a possible range of 15,000km (9,300 miles), “in which case the entire US territory would be within range.”
It was the second suspected launch by North Korea in a matter of hours and comes after Pyongyang vowed to take “more offensive countermeasures” in response to a meeting between US and South Korean defense officials last week. At the meeting in Washington on Friday, both nations agreed to war-game the use of nuclear weapons in drills expected to take place next summer.
The arrival of a US nuclear-powered submarine in South Korea on Sunday, which coincides with increased military drills and collaboration among allies, was condemned by the North as a “preview of a nuclear war” carried out by “hostile forces.”
Both countries’ “attempts to use armed forces against the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea) will face a preemptive and deadly counteraction,” Pyongyang stated in a statement, according to the KCNA news agency.
Fumio Kishida, Japan’s Prime Minister, said Monday’s test, as well as a shorter-range missile launch hours earlier, were “not only a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions, but also a threat to peace and stability in the region, and we strongly condemn them.”
According to a US State Department official, “these launches, like the other ballistic missile launches Pyongyang has conducted this year, are in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.”
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen following Pyongyang’s successful launch of a spy satellite last month. Seoul reacted by suspending parts of a deal with the North aimed at reducing military activities along the border. North Korea, for its part, has withdrawn from the military agreement and rearmed border guard positions near the Demilitarised Zone.