The flight lasted one hour and 13 minutes and reached a maximum altitude of more than 6,000 km. At 9:37 a.m. (Japan time, 9:37 p.m. Brasília, Sunday) the missile fell into the sea in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Miyake said. “All American territory would be within its reach,” he added.
International reviews
Caption: The Japanese Ministry of Defense confirmed that the missile was an ICBM type
Photo: KCTV/Disclosure
After an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, Seoul “strongly condemned” its northern neighbor and said the launch posed a “serious threat to the peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the international community.”
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered an “immediate and full” response to any provocation by Pyongyang, in addition to joint action with the United States and Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the launch a “threat to peace and stability.” It also said it violated UN Security Council resolutions.
The United Nations Security Council has passed several resolutions calling on North Korea to end its nuclear and missile programs since the country conducted its first nuclear test in 2006. The US State Department condemned the start of the test.
China, North Korea's main ally, did not comment on the launch but released a note reiterating its support for Pyongyang.
“Faced with the turbulent international situation, China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have always supported and trusted each other,” said Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, using North Korea's official acronym.
Pyongyang has already conducted four intercontinental ballistic missile tests this year. The previous one launched a Hwasong18 solidfuel rocket in July.
The South Korean General Staff spokesman said the government was examining the images to determine whether Monday's launch was an intercontinental ballistic missile with that type of fuel.
Solid rocket
Park Wongon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha University, said there were many possibilities that it was Hwasong18.
This type of missile “uses solid fuel, there is no preparation time and can be fired immediately from a mobile launcher and can be considered a system practically capable of reaching the American continent,” he told AFP.
The United States and South Korea organized the second Nuclear Advisory Group meeting last week, warning that a nuclear attack by Pyongyang against Washington or Seoul would spell the end of the North Korean regime.
A North Korean Defense Ministry spokesman on Sunday criticized the allies' plans to expand the annual joint military exercise in 2024 to include a simulated nuclear mission.
“It is an open declaration of nuclear confrontation to make the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK a fait accompli,” said the source quoted by state news agency KCNA.
“Any attempt to use the armed forces against the DPRK will face a preemptive and lethal response,” he added.
North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power last year and has repeatedly insisted it would never give up its nuclear program, which the regime considers vital to its survival.