North Korea has conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch in a month, possibly testing a new more mobile, harder-to-detect missile for the first time.
Key points:
- The missile was launched into waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula
- South Korea’s military believes it was a new type of ballistic missile, possibly using solid fuel
- Residents on Japan’s Hokkaido island were urged to seek shelter
Japan briefly urged residents on a northern island to take shelter in an indication of its vigilance over North Korea’s evolving missile threats.
The missile was launched on a high angle from near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and fell in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan following a 1,000-kilometre flight, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staffs said in a statement.
It described its range as medium or longer. The US National Security Council called it a long-range missile and Japan’s government said it likely had an intercontinental range.
South Korea’s military believes North Korea launched a new type of ballistic missile, possibly using solid fuel, a defence official said under the condition of anonymity.
North Korea’s known ICBMs all use liquid propellants that must be fuelled before launches, but fuel in a solid-propellant weapon is already loaded, allowing it to be moved easier and fired faster.
A solid-fuel ICBM is one of the key high-tech weapons North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to build to better cope with what he calls US military threats.
He also wants a multi-warhead missile, a nuclear-powered submarine, a hypersonic missile and a spy satellite.
Japanese residents urged to seek shelter
North Korea commonly test-launches missiles toward the international waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, using elevated trajectories to avoid neighbouring countries. South Korea and Japan typically don’t issue evacuation orders unless they determine the North Korean weapon is flying in their direction.
Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada said the missile did not reach Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
But Japanese authorities still urged people on the northernmost island of Hokkaido to seek shelter and temporarily suspended train, bus and subway services there.
Local communities also activated alert sirens through community speakers, urging people to evacuate. The missile alert was later retracted.
North Korea has launched about 100 missiles since the start of 2022, many of them nuclear-capable weapons that place the US mainland, South Korea or Japan within striking distance.
During an emergency meeting of Seoul’s National Security Council, officials stressed the need to tighten three-way security cooperation with Washington and Tokyo. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held a meeting of his NSC to analyse the launch and Japan’s response.
The nuclear envoys of Seoul, Washington and Tokyo held a phone conference where they called for a “decisive and united international response” to North Korean provocations and stronger efforts to stem illicit North Korean funding of its weapons program.
AP