The missile launch comes just hours after Pyongyang fired the largest number of missiles in one day
On Thursday morning, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), designed to hit targets on the other side of the world, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean Army. This is Pyongyang’s seventh launch this year. year and comes amid fears that a nuclear weapon will soon be tested.
On Thursday, North Korea launched a long-range missile around 07:40 local time (23:40 GMT), according to a statement by the South Korean Joint Chief of Staff. A source confirmed to the BBC that it is an ICBM.
The missile flew 760 km and reached an altitude of about 1,920 km.
But the Yonhap news agency quoted sources as saying the missile apparently failed in flight.
This dangerous development comes the day after the two Koreas exchanged missile launches in an escalation of tensions.
That exchange saw the largest number of missiles launched by North Korea in one day – 23 missiles – one of which fell in an area less than 60 kilometers from the South Korean city of Sokcho.
The southern neighbor responded by firing 3 air-to-ground missiles from warplanes over the demarcation area of the disputed maritime border between the two countries.
So Pyongyang fired 6 missiles and about 100 artillery shells.
North Korea’s multiple launches come as the US and South Korea are conducting their largest joint air drill ever, which Pyongyang has sharply criticized as “aggressive and provocative”.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said one of the missiles launched by North Korea may have been an ICBM.
North Korea said the bombing was in response to expanded military exercises, which Pyongyang describes as “hostile and provocative”.
The missile launch prompted the Japanese government to issue a rare decision to declare an emergency, warn citizens of the northern regions and ask them to stay home.
Tokyo initially claimed that the missile crossed the country’s airspace, but Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada later denied it, stating that it “did not cross Japanese airspace, but disappeared somewhere in the Sea of Japan” .
The Japanese prime minister condemned the “subsequent North Korean missile launches”, calling them “crazy”.
South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and his US counterpart Wendy Sherman called the launch “unfortunate and immoral” during a telephone conversation Thursday morning, Seoul time.
On Tuesday, North Korea threatened both its southern neighbor and the United States that it would “pay the most terrifying price in history” if the two countries continued joint military exercises, in what some have described as an implicit threat to the country. use of nuclear weapons.
A North Korean missile, as part of a mutual bombing with Seoul, has reached the closest point to South Korea since the end of the war between the two countries
North Korea tested a number of missiles this year amid mounting tensions in the region.
And in the waters near its southern neighbor, North Korea’s missile exchange began, leading to the sound of sirens on Seoul-controlled island of Ulleung. The authorities asked the island’s residents to evacuate their homes and go to underground shelters.
One of the ballistic missiles crossed the Northern Maritime Limit Line (NLL), a disputed area between the two Koreas.
The missile landed in territorial waters closer to South Korea, which could be reached by a missile launched from its northern neighbor.
Seoul described the North Korean bombing as an “unacceptable” violation of its territory.
South Korean officials said air-to-surface missiles launched by South Korean fighters fell roughly the same distance from the disputed Northern Limit Line.
The missile exchange between the two Koreas comes as South Korea mourns the stampede to the capital Seoul last weekend during Halloween celebrations, which killed more than 150 people.
Part of the follow-up of North Korean officials to the missile test
The South Korean military released an update indicating that the total number of missiles launched from Pyongyang on Wednesday was 23, seven of them short-range, as well as 16 ballistic missiles, including six surface-to-air.
The military statement added in this regard that the missile, which reached the closest point in South Korea at 9:00 local time, fell 26 kilometers from the actual border, 57 kilometers east of the coastal city of Sokcho and a 167 kilometers from Ulleung Island in South Korea.
The defenses of South Korea and Japan shot down this missile. The Japanese authorities also issued an immediate condemnation of the Pyongyang escalation.
The South Korean military said it was the first time – since the division of the Korean peninsula after the 1950-53 war – that a North Korean ballistic missile had landed south of the NLL “near South Korean territorial waters.”
And he classified South Korean President Yoon Sok-yul – who pursues a policy that includes taking tough stances against North Korea – what happened as a “real land invasion” of South Korea, even though the missiles are landed outside the territorial waters of your country. He also promised a “quick and firm response”.
Under international law, countries have the right to request the protection of their territories in the event of missiles falling 12 nautical miles from their shores.
Tensions between the two Koreas have increased since the beginning of this year, as the Korean peninsula witnessed the launch of about 50 missiles from North Korea in 2022, including a ballistic missile that passed through Japan.
And a US nuclear submarine reached the coast of South Korea on Monday to participate in a new round of a series of joint military exercises between the two countries, which began last August.
The joint military exercise series, known as the “Awakening Storm”, is the largest and most extensive joint exercise involving Seoul and Washington. Hundreds of warplanes from both sides participate.
