N. Korea test fires ballistic missile with US in range

SEOUL: North Korea launched another long-range ballistic missile on Monday with the potential capability of striking the United States, Seoul and Tokyo officials said, extending a record-breaking number of weapons tests this year that have been condemned by the West.

The firing followed the test of a shorter range missile on Sunday night, with the back-to-back launches coming immediately in the wake of another bout of fearsome rhetoric between North Korea and the US-South Korean allies.

South Korea’s military said it had detected the launch of a long-range ballistic missile from the Pyongyang area on Monday morning that flew 1,000 kilometres before splashing down in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan. The South reported the missile flew up rather than across, a method Pyongyang has previously said it employs in some weapons tests to avoid flying over neighbouring countries.

Japan’s defence ministry said it was an ICBM-class missile with a potential range of more than 15,000 kilometres that would cover all of the United States. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida described the two launches as a “threat to peace and stability”, while the US State Department also quickly condemned them.

“These launches, like the other ballistic missile launches Pyongyang has conducted this year, are in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions,” a US State Department said in a statement.

North Korea previously test-fired four ICBMs this year. It first launched the Hwasong-18 — its most advanced and powerful ICBM, in April, then again in July. The Hwasong-18 is North Korea’s first ICBM to use solid fuel, which makes it easier to transport and faster to launch than liquid-fuelled versions.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2023