On October 31, 2024, at a train station in Seoul, people watched news broadcast on a television screen that included archival footage of a North Korean missile test.
Jung Yeon-je | AFP | Getty Images
North Korea launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday, its first test in nearly a year of a weapon designed to threaten the U.S. homeland and days earlier. US election.
North Korea’s Defense Ministry said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the missile test and visited the launch site, calling the launch an “appropriate military action” to demonstrate North Korea’s determination to respond to enemies threatening its security.
The United States, South Korea and Japan also identified the weapon as an intercontinental ballistic missile and condemned the launch as exacerbating tensions. The launch comes as Washington warns North Korean troops about wearing Russian uniforms Heading to Ukrainemay strengthen the Russian army and join the war.
North Korea confirmed the launch hours after its neighbors spotted the launch of a new, more flexible weapon they suspected was aimed at the U.S. mainland. .
“I confirm that North Korea will never change its course of strengthening its nuclear forces,” Kim said, according to a North Korean defense ministry statement reported by state media. North Korea stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the country’s official name.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea may have tested a new type of solid-fuel long-range ballistic missile. Missiles with built-in solid propellants are easier to move and conceal than liquid-propellant weapons, and can fire faster.
JCS spokesman Ri Sung-jun said the launch could be carried out during the U.S. election to enhance North Korea’s bargaining power in the future. He said North Korea’s missiles were launched at a high angle, apparently to avoid neighboring countries.
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters that the missile had a flight time of 86 minutes and a maximum altitude of more than 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles), exceeding corresponding data from North Korea’s previous missile tests. South Korea’s military spokesman Lee Myung-bak said South Korea had a similar assessment of Thursday’s launch.
KCNA said the flight characteristics of the launch exceeded those recorded by previous missile launches, but did not elaborate on the difference.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Sean Savitt called the launch a “blatant violation” of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, “unnecessarily heightened tensions and risked destabilizing security in the region.” Savitt said the United States will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the U.S. mainland and its allies in South Korea and Japan.
South Korea and Japan both condemned North Korea’s launches as a threat to international peace and said they were closely coordinating with the United States over North Korea’s latest weapons test. Lee said South Korea and the United States plan to conduct “sufficient” bilateral military exercises and trilateral military exercises involving Japan to deal with North Korea’s threats.
Lee said the missile was likely launched from a 12-axis launch vehicle, the largest mobile launch platform North Korea disclosed in September. The vehicle’s unveiling has fueled speculation that North Korea may be developing an ICBM larger than its existing ones.
North Korea has made great progress in missile technology in recent years, but many foreign experts believe the country has yet to acquire a functional nuclear bomb capable of striking the U.S. mainland. They say North Korea may have short-range missiles that can carry out nuclear strikes across South Korea.
One of the technical hurdles North Korea still faces is the ability of its weapons to survive the harsh conditions of re-entry. South Korean officials and experts said earlier that North Korea may test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile at a normal angle to verify its capabilities.
Lee said high-angle launches like Thursday’s test cannot test the missile’s reentry vehicle technology. He said more analysis was needed to find out why North Korea did not conduct a standard-orbit launch on Thursday.
Korea Military Intelligence Service told lawmakers on wednesday North Korea is about to test-fire a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States and may have completed preparations for its seventh nuclear test.
North Korea last tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in December 2023, when it launched a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 missile.
Over the past two years, Kim Jong-un has used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an opportunity to step up weapons testing and threats while expanding military cooperation with Moscow. South Korea, the United States and other countries have recently accused North Korea of sending thousands of troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine. They say North Korea has shipped artillery, missiles and other convective weapons to Russia.
North Korea’s possible involvement in the war in Ukraine would mark a serious escalation. South Korea, the United States and their partners are also concerned about what North Korea will receive in return from Russia if it joins Russia’s war in Ukraine. In addition to soldiers’ wagesExperts say Kim Jong Un may want to acquire high-tech Russian technology to improve his nuclear missiles and establish a reliable space-based surveillance system. Kim Jong Un may also want Russian fighter jets and help modernize North Korea’s conventional weapons.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday that North Korean troops wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment Heading to Ukrainewhich he called a dangerous and unstable development. Austin said it was “very likely” that Russia would use the troops in combat.
Austin spoke at a news conference in Washington with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun. South Korean President Yun Seok-yeol last week raised the possibility of supplying weapons to Ukraine, while stressing that his government “will not stand idly by reports of North Korea sending troops.”
South Korea said on Wednesday that North Korea has sent more than 11,000 troops to Russia, with more than 3,000 of them deployed near the battlefield in western Russia.
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