North Korea launches long-range missile that can fly up to 1,000 km

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North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan on Wednesday, days after threatening to shoot down US reconnaissance planes it accused of violating its airspace.

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the missile was launched on a high trajectory from near Pyongyang at around 10 a.m. and traveled about 1,000 km before splashing down.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said the missile flew for about 74 minutes before falling outside the country’s exclusive economic zone, 155 miles west of Okushiri Island.

This would be the longest flight time for any North Korean long-range missile. In March last year, North Korea launched the Hwasong-15 ICBM which lasted for 71 minutes.

The missile launch took place as the leaders of Japan and South Korea attended a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. On the sidelines of the meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the launch and promised closer cooperation with Seoul and Washington.

“North Korea is launching ballistic missiles with increased frequency,” Kishida told reporters. “The chain of actions is putting our country and region at risk. , , And that’s absolutely unacceptable.”

According to South Korean state media outlet Yonhap, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called an emergency meeting of his National Security Committee, asking officials to make it clear to Pyongyang that “North Korea’s illegal acts will pay a price”. .

Kim Yo Jong, a senior North Korean official and sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said Pyongyang on Monday alleged that US spy planes had violated its airspace on eight separate occasions.

“The invasion of reconnaissance assets of enemy countries with a detection radius of more than 240 nautical miles in our 200-nautical mile economic zone is clearly a serious violation of (North Korea’s) sovereignty and security,” he said. Korean jets forced the American planes to “retreat”.

His comments were disputed by South Korean military officials, who said that flying over North Korea’s exclusive economic zone was not a violation of its airspace.

Lee Sung-joon, spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday that “North Korea’s claims do not deserve our attention” and that “the US acts safely and responsibly in international waters and airspace, as it Can do”.

Experts have suggested Wednesday’s launch could be of a so-called solid-fuel ICBM, which North Korea first claimed to have successfully tested in April.

North Korean state media at the time quoted Kim Jong Un as saying that he would continue to expand his nuclear arsenal so that his adversaries would “suffer from extreme anxiety and fear while facing a formidable threat”.

Solid-fuel missiles can be covertly refueled before deployment, potentially giving adversaries less time to launch a preemptive strike.