North Korea’s suspected launch of its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) failed on Thursday morning, a South Korean government source said, as Pyongyang stepped up its missile tests as part of US-South Korean military exercises that had scheduled to end on Friday.   

  However, within hours of the alleged failed test, Washington and Seoul agreed to extend these large-scale drills to an undisclosed date, according to a statement from South Korea’s air force, which said it was “necessary to demonstrate a firm combined defensive posture.  of the bilateral alliance under the current security crisis, exacerbated by North Korea’s provocations.”   

  The joint exercises, dubbed Vigilant Storm, began on Monday and involved 240 aircraft and “thousands of military personnel” from both countries, according to the US Department of Defense.   

  North Korea had opposed the drills in statements this week, before escalating tensions on the peninsula with a barrage of weapons tests on Wednesday and Thursday.   

  On Thursday, after the failed suspected ICBM launch, North Korea called extending the drills “a very dangerous and wrong choice,” Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee Secretary Park Yong-chon said in a statement released by state media. KCNA media.  .   

  Later Thursday night, shortly before US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his South Korean counterpart Lee Jong-sup at the Pentagon, North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast, according to the Public South Korean staff.  he said.   

  “Our military has increased surveillance and vigilance and maintains a posture of full readiness while working closely with the US,” the JCS said.   

  Thursday morning’s suspected ICBM was launched from North Korea’s west coast at around 7:39 am.  local time and flew about 750 kilometers (466 miles) before crashing into the Sea of ​​Japan, also known as the East Sea, east of Korea.  Peninsula, announced the Ministry of Defense of Japan.   

  The South Korean government source said officials suspect it was a Hwasong-17, North Korea’s most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile that was first successfully test-fired on March 24.   

  This launch set a new standard for Pyongyang, recording the highest altitude and longest duration of any North Korean missile ever tested.  The missile hit a maximum height of 6,248.5 kilometers (3,905 miles) and flew a distance of 1,090 kilometers (681 miles), according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency at the time.  Flight time was 68 minutes, the report added.   

  However, a South Korean government source told CNN that officials believe the missile launched on Thursday only managed to separate in the second stage and appears to have failed after that, falling into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.  Thursday’s launch reached a maximum height of about 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles), according to Japan’s defense ministry – less than a third of the record height set in March.

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  In Japan, the alleged launch of the ICMB prompted shelter-in-place warnings in the northern prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata, where the Japanese prime minister’s office initially said it was expected to fly.  Japan’s defense ministry later assessed that the missile did not fly over Japan.   

  North Korea followed up its suspected ICBM test on Thursday with two short-range ballistic missile launches, according to South Korea and Japan.   

  In a statement on Thursday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Pyongyang’s repeated ballistic missile launches are a serious challenge that harms the peace and stability not only of the Korean Peninsula but also of the international community.   

  US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement Thursday that Washington “strongly condemns” North Korea’s ballistic missile tests, saying they are “a flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and needlessly heighten tensions and risk destabilizing the security situation in the region.  .”   

  The Hwasong-17 has been described by North Korean state media as a “powerful nuclear deterrent”.   

  It could, at least in theory, put the entire US mainland within range of a North Korean nuclear warhead, but there are many unknowns about the missile’s ability to deliver a nuclear payload on target.   

  It is, however, large enough to carry a nuclear weapon, or possibly several nuclear weapons, according to experts.   

  Thursday’s launches bring North Korea’s number of missile tests to at least 30 so far this year, according to a CNN count — though the number of individual missiles is much higher.   

  The weapons launched include cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, the latter of which have made up the vast majority of North Korea’s tests this year.   

  There are substantial differences between these two types of missiles.   

  A ballistic missile is launched using a rocket or rockets, then travels out of the Earth’s atmosphere, gliding through space before re-entering, and then descends powered only by gravity to its target.   

  A cruise missile is powered by a jet engine, remains in the Earth’s atmosphere during its flight, and is maneuvered with control surfaces similar to those of an airplane.   

  Cruise missiles have a smaller payload than ballistic missiles, so they would require a smaller nuclear warhead than a missile designed to hit the continental United States, such as an ICBM.   

  United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles, but no such restrictions apply to testing cruise missiles.   

  North Korea’s ability to deploy a nuclear warhead on any type of missile has not been proven.   

  On Wednesday, North Korea fired at least 23 short-range missiles of various types into the east and west of the Korean peninsula, according to South Korea’s defense ministry.   

  It was the highest number of North Korean short-range missiles fired in a single day and included a ballistic missile that landed near South Korean territorial waters for the first time since the Korean split, according to the JCS.   

  That missile struck international waters 167 kilometers (104 miles) northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung Island, about 26 kilometers south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) — the de facto inter-Korean maritime border that North Korea does not recognize.   

  Seoul responded on Wednesday by firing three air-to-surface missiles from F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, targeting an area the same distance north of the NLL.   

  North Korea is firing missiles at an “unprecedentedly high frequency,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters on Wednesday.   

  US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned North Korea’s unprecedented missile launch, telling CNN that the UN would “put pressure” on China and Russia to improve and strengthen such sanctions.