North Korea Launches Ballistic Missiles

By Staff, Agencies

North Korea has tested a long-range ballistic missile that is theoretically capable of striking anywhere on the US mainland, Japan officials said, the first round of missile tests for about a month.

The missile appeared to have flown about 1,000km [620 miles] and reached a maximum altitude of more than 6,000km before landing in the sea east of the Korean peninsula on Monday.

The projectile appeared to have fallen into the sea outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone off the northernmost main island of Hokkaido after flying for 73 minutes. There have been no reports of damage to aircraft or ships in the area.

The Japanese government lodged a protest and called a meeting of its national security council. The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, condemned the launch, as well as the test-firing of a shorter-range missile on Sunday night.

The launches are “not only a clear violation of UN security council resolutions but also a threat to peace and stability of the region and we strongly condemn them”, he said.

The launches posed a threat to North Korea’s neighbors, a US state department spokesperson said. “These launches, like the other ballistic missile launches Pyongyang has conducted this year, are in violation of multiple United Nations security council resolutions,” the spokesperson said.

North Korea has tested several ICBMs that are capable of reaching targets anywhere in the US.

Senior US and South Korean officials met in Washington over the weekend and agreed to update their nuclear deterrence and contingency strategies, and incorporate nuclear operation scenarios in their combined military exercises next summer.

The North has responded with characteristically fiery rhetoric, while moving closer to Russia and China in an apparent attempt to form a “counter-alliance” against the US and its allies.