North Korea launched an ICBM on Friday, according to the South Korean military, the latest in a record string of missile launches in recent weeks, while Seoul and Washington expect Pyongyang to prepare for an imminent nuclear test.
US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Canada on Friday, after North Korea launched an ICBM, a White House official said.
The official said Harris, who is attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) summit in Bangkok, called on leaders of the five countries on the sidelines of the summit “to consult on the Party’s recent launch of a ballistic missile Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” which fell off the coast of Japan. “.
ICBM
A defense official told AFP that the South Korean general staff “believe that North Korea has launched an ICBM,” without elaborating.
South Korea said on Friday that North Korea fired what appeared to be an ICBM, the day after launching a smaller missile and warned of “heavier military responses” to increased US security presence in the area.
Japan also confirmed the missile launch, describing it as “totally unacceptable,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
“The North Korean-launched ballistic missile appears to have landed in our exclusive economic zone in western Hokkaido,” Kishida said, describing this missile launch as “totally unacceptable,” noting that there were no reports of damage to ships or ships. planes.
“We have strongly protested against North Korea. Pyongyang is repeating provocative actions at an unprecedented rate. We strongly reiterate that this is totally unacceptable,” Kishida said.
“Japan, the United States and South Korea must coordinate closely to work towards the complete denuclearization of North Korea,” he said.
Earlier, the South Korean military had indicated that it had detected “the firing of an unspecified ballistic missile towards the east”.
short-range ballistic missile
North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile on Thursday and its foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, warned of “stronger military responses” to US moves to increase its military presence, saying Washington is making “a bet you’ll regret”. according to Reuters.
In a statement released by state media, Choe denounced a trilateral summit held Sunday between the United States, South Korea and Japan, during which leaders of those countries criticized Pyongyang’s missile tests and pledged greater security cooperation, according to Reuters.
The United States “strongly” condemned on Thursday what it described as a “test of long-range ballistic missiles” launched by North Korea, which Japan said had sufficient range to strike the American continent.
“This launch is a flagrant violation of many United Nations Security Council resolutions and needlessly escalates tensions and threatens to destabilize the security situation in the region,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said.
And he confirmed in a statement that President Joe Biden and his team “will continue close consultations with allies and partners”.
Continuous violations
On Nov. 3, North Korea fired an ICBM, but the launch apparently failed, according to Seoul and Tokyo.
Last March, Pyongyang violated a moratorium imposed in 2017 on launching this type of long-range missile.
The United States, South Korea and Japan have intensified their joint military exercises in recent months in the face of threats from North Korea, which sees these exercises as training to invade its territory or overthrow its regime.
North Korea has conducted a record number of missile launches this year, banned by UN Security Council resolutions under sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its missile and nuclear programmes, according to Reuters.
Analysts say North Korea, which is banned by United Nations resolutions from firing ballistic missiles, has emboldened itself for the chance to escape any other sanctions that might be imposed on it, due to divisions in the Council of security, according to ” Agence France Presse”.
