SEOUL, (Reuters) – North Korea said it tested a new, powerful type of intercontinental ballistic missile yesterday, marking an end to a self-imposed moratorium on long-range testing in place since 2017 and drawing international condemnation.
State media said leader Kim Jong Un directly guided the test of the Hwasong-17, a “new type” of intercontinental ballistic missile that is North Korea’s biggest ever. He said it was key to deterring nuclear war.
It said the missile flew for 1,090 km (681 miles) to a maximum altitude of 6,248.5 km (3,905 miles) and precisely hit a target in the sea.
Kim said North Korea was preparing for long confrontation with U.S. imperialism and its strategic force was ready to check and contain any military attempt by the United States, North Korean media said.
Flight data from the South Korean and Japanese militaries earlier indicated the missile flew higher and for a longer time than any of North Korea’s previous tests before crashing into the sea west of Japan.
It was the first full-capability launch of the nuclear-armed state’s largest missiles since 2017, and represents a major step in Pyongyang’s development of weapons that might be able to deliver nuclear warheads anywhere in the United States.
North Korea’s return to major weapons tests poses a new headache for U.S. President Joe Biden as he responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and presents a challenge to South Korea’s incoming conservative administration. Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, meeting at a Group of Seven summit in Brussels in a show of unity against the Kremlin’s war, condemned the North Korean launch, stressed the need for diplomacy and agreed to work together to hold Pyongyang “accountable,” a White House official said.
“This launch is a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilising the security situation in the region,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier.
North Korea had put its ICBM and nuclear tests on hold since 2017, but has defended the weapons as necessary for self-defence. Amid stalled denuclearisation efforts Biden has been unable to jumpstart, Pyongyang has called U.S. overtures insincere while its maintains “hostile policies” such as sanctions and military drills.
North Korea’s launch missile was a jarring reminder that its leader Kim Jong Un will not be ignored even as the world’s attention is gripped by the Ukraine crisis.
South Korea’s outgoing President Moon Jae-in, who made engaging North Korea a major goal, condemned the launch as “a breach of the moratorium on ICBM launches that Chairman Kim Jong Un himself promised to the international community”. Moon is due to leave office in May.
Kishida called it an “unacceptable act of violence.”
The launch prompted South Korea to test-fire a volley of its own, smaller ballistic and air-to-ground missiles to demonstrate it has the “capability and readiness” to precisely strike missile launch sites, command and support facilities, and other targets in North Korea if necessary, South Korea’s military said.
