North Korea confirmed the launch of the new Hwasong-17 ICBM on Friday. The regime has implicitly hinted that it has abandoned the 2018 moratorium on nuclear tests and long-range missiles it imposed. The state news agency KCNA described the missile as a means to launch a nuclear attack and a reliable deterrent to nuclear war. In response to the rocket launch, the United States has imposed further sanctions on five institutes, companies and individuals in North Korea and Russia that the United States has identified as being involved in the North Korean missile program.
Patryk Welter
Japan business and policy correspondent based in Tokyo.
According to the KCNA report, the test was an impressive display of North Korea’s great military strength. State media published photos of the ruler Kim Jong Un, wearing a black leather jacket, as a pilot points the way to a mobile launch pad with eleven axes. The propaganda film showed the rocket launch in slow motion from different camera angles. A camera was also attached to the rocket itself.
America, South Korea and Japan have already assessed the rocket launch as a violation of a UN Security Council resolution. On Friday, the Security Council wanted to meet at a special session.
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South Korea launched smaller missiles on Thursday as a warning to North Korea following a rocket test that could destroy underground bunkers in an emergency. On Friday, the South Korean military trained as a deterrent with dozens of F-35 fighters. The North Korean missile test proves the failure of the détente policy attempt by the outgoing South Korean president, Moon Jae-in. Often times, North Korea uses rocket launchers to mark South Korea’s presidential changes. President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday the regime would achieve nothing through provocation. In a telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Yoon asked for close cooperation on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.
The test went as planned
The dimensions of the new weapon that North Korea unveiled for the first time at the 2020 parade raise new concerns. According to Japanese distribution minister Nobuo Kishi, the missile has a range of over 15,000 km, which means it can also reach the east coast of America. The range depends on the weight of the head. On Friday, Kishi spoke about the new dimension of the threat. Experts suspect that the missile could carry multiple warheads. A successful launch does not prove that North Korea can control the return of the missile into the Earth’s atmosphere without damaging the warheads.
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According to North Korean sources, the rocket was launched from Pyongyang International Airport. North Korea has a maximum flight altitude of 6248.5 km and a flight time of 4052 seconds (or 67.5 minutes). This roughly corresponds to the information from South Korea on the previous day. In the interest of the safety of its neighbors, the rocket was launched in an upright position, according to reports from North Korea. The missile successfully hit the target area in the Korean East Sea.
This was announced in the Japanese media with great doubts. According to the Japanese government, the missile landed about 150 kilometers off the west coast of Hokkaido, in waters to which Japan has economic rights. Local fishermen and the government in Tokyo fear North Korea is dropping rockets into Japanese waters.