North Korea fired another long-range ballistic missile on Monday with the potential ability to hit the United States, Seoul and Tokyo officials said, extending a record-breaking number of weapons tests this year.
The launch followed Sunday evening's test of a shorter-range missile, with the back-to-back launches coming on the heels of another bout of fearsome rhetoric between North Korea and the U.S.-South Korean allies.
Japan's Defense Ministry said it was an ICBM-class missile with a potential range of more than 9,000 miles that would cover the entire United States.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the two launches a “threat to peace and stability,” while the U.S. State Department also quickly condemned them.
After North Korea fires another long-range missile, a woman in Seoul walks past a television screen showing a newscast with archival footage of an earlier missile test
An ICBM during a launch exercise at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea (file)
“These launches, like the other ballistic missile launches that Pyongyang has conducted this year, violate multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions,” the US State Department said in a statement.
The South Korean military said it detected the launch of a long-range ballistic missile from the Pyongyang region on Monday morning that flew 620 miles before landing in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.
The South reported the missile flew up rather than over, a method Pyongyang has previously used in some weapons tests to avoid flying over neighboring countries.
Since the first nuclear test in 2006, the United Nations Security Council has passed numerous resolutions calling on North Korea to end its nuclear and missile programs.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen a record number of weapons tests this year that have been condemned by the West
North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the sea on Monday, resuming its high-profile weapons testing activities, its neighbors said
North Korea has already test-fired four intercontinental ballistic missiles this year. The Hwasong-18, its most advanced and powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, was first launched in April and again in July.
The Hwasong-18 is North Korea's first ICBM to use solid fuel, making it easier to transport and quicker to launch than liquid-fuel versions.
The spokesman for the South Korean General Staff said they were checking whether Monday's launch was a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile.
Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha University, said there was a high probability that Pyongyang had fired a Hwasong-18 test
“The Hwasong-18 uses solid fuel, so there is no preparation time, and it can be immediately fired from a mobile launch vehicle, and it can be viewed as a weapon system with practical capability to attack the US mainland,” Park explained.
The Hwasong-18 is North Korea's first ICBM to use solid fuel, making it easier to transport and quicker to launch than liquid-fuel versions
North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power last year and has repeatedly said it will never give up its nuclear program because the regime sees it as vital to its survival.
The United States and South Korea held their second Nuclear Advisory Group meeting in Washington on Friday, where they discussed nuclear deterrence in the event of a conflict with the North.
On Saturday they warned that a nuclear attack by Pyongyang on the United States and South Korea would mean the end of the North Korean regime.
A North Korean Defense Ministry spokesman on Sunday criticized the allies' plans to add a nuclear operations exercise to next year's annual joint military exercise.
“This is an open declaration of nuclear confrontation to make the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK a fait accompli,” said a statement carried by the KCNA news agency, using the official acronym for North Korea.
North Korea's missile launch came at a time when the country is celebrating the anniversary of the father of leader Kim Jong Un and his predecessor Kim Jong Il
“Any attempt to use military forces against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will face a pre-emptive and lethal backlash,” it said.
The North's launch of a military spy satellite last month further damaged relations.
The North portrayed it as a major breakthrough, claiming it had provided images of U.S. and South Korean military sites.
That launch broke a military agreement between the Koreas that had been made to de-escalate tensions on the peninsula.
After the launch of the spy satellite, both sides increased security along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates them.
“If North Korea does something reckless that destroys peace, only hellish destruction awaits it,” South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik warned last week in a meeting with senior military commanders.
KCNA also quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as saying his military has “eyes that see a very long distance and a strong fist that punches a very long distance.”
Professor Park said the “fist” refers to the Hwasong-18.