The launches prompted South Korea and the United States to extend their largest-ever joint air drills, citing North Korea’s “provocations”.
People in parts of northern Japan were ordered to take shelter during the North’s latest launches, which also included two short-range missiles, and after an explosion of missiles fired on Wednesday.
However, the largest of Thursday’s launches “is presumed to have resulted in failure,” South Korea’s military said.
The United States condemned the ICBM launch despite its apparent failure.
“This action underscores the need for all countries to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions related to the DPRK,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, using the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Washington also confirmed information provided by South Korea’s military, which earlier said it detected the launch of the long-range ballistic missile around 7:40 a.m. local time in Sunan District, Pyongyang.
People walk past a television screen showing a news report on North Korea’s recent missile launches near Japan on Nov. 3, 2022, in Tokyo. Pictured is North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Shuji Kajiyama / AP
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the ICBM appeared to have failed during “second-stage separation.”
“The range of the long-range ballistic missile is about 760 kilometers (472 miles), height 1,920 kilometers (1,193 miles) at a speed of Mach 15,” the military said.
It also spotted what were “believed to be two short-range ballistic missiles that were fired at around 08:39 am. from Kaechon, South Pyongan Province.’
South Korea’s military “maintains a posture of full readiness while working closely with the US and strengthening surveillance and vigilance,” it said.
Pyongyang fired more than 20 missiles on Wednesday, including one that landed near South Korean territorial waters.
A short-range ballistic missile crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border, on Wednesday, prompting President Yoon Suk-yeol to call it “essentially a territorial invasion.”
The launches come as Seoul and Washington hold their biggest ever joint air drills, involving hundreds of warplanes from both sides.
Pyongyang called the exercise, dubbed Vigilant Storm, “an aggressive and provocative military exercise aimed at the DPRK” and warned that if it continued, Seoul and Washington “will pay the most horrific price in history.”
The exercise was due to end on Friday, but South Korea’s air force said on Thursday it would expand its air exercises with the United States in response to the latest launches.
“The joint air forces have agreed to extend the Vigilant Storm exercise that began on October 31 in light of the North’s recent provocations,” the air force said in a statement.
Tokyo confirmed Thursday’s launches, with Japan’s government issuing a special warning to residents of northern regions to stay indoors or seek shelter.
Tokyo initially said the missile had flown over Japan, prompting the issuance of a “J-Alert,” but Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada later said “the missile did not cross the Japanese archipelago, but disappeared over the Sea of Japan.”
Washington and Seoul have repeatedly warned that Kim Jong Un’s recent missile launches could lead to another nuclear test, which would be Pyongyang’s seventh.
“Very likely tactical nuclear weapons tests will be next. Possibly very soon,” Chad O’Carroll of the Seoul-based specialist website NK News said on Twitter.
Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean scholar, agreed.
“These are North Korea’s pre-celebratory events ahead of its upcoming nuclear test,” he told AFP. “They also look like a series of practice tests for their tactical nuclear development.”
North Korea revised its laws in September to allow for pre-emptive nuclear strikes, with leader Kim declaring the country an “irreversible” nuclear power — effectively ending negotiations over its banned weapons programs.
U.S. and South Korean officials tell CBS News that Kim is preparing to conduct an atomic test soon as he continues to develop a tactical nuclear weapon. A nuclear test would mean that Kim has been able to develop his weapons program through the Trump and Biden administrations and despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We think they’re ready to go. Kim just needs to give the thumbs up,” a senior State Department official told CBS News.
A tactical nuclear device is designed to be used on a battlefield.
On October 4, North Korea fired a missile over Japan that also prompted evacuation warnings. Pyongyang later claimed it was a new type of “intermediate-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile”. It was the first time North Korea had fired a missile over Japan since 2017.
Pyongyang later claimed the launch and a flurry of other tests around the same time were “tactical nuclear drills” that simulated showering South Korea with nuclear-tipped missiles.
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