North Korea fired three new projectiles Thursday, including what appeared to be a failed ICBM, a day after a record barrage of fire that sent tensions in the region to fever pitch.
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, three projectiles – two short-range missiles followed by an ICBM – were fired from the north towards the Sea of Japan on Thursday morning. “North Korea’s launch of an ICBM would likely have ended in failure” during the separation of the missile’s second stage, the South Korean army said.
According to her, this rocket traveled 760 km at a maximum altitude of 1,920 km and at a speed of Mach 15 (15 times the speed of sound). The other two rockets flew about 330 km at Mach 5 and a maximum altitude of 70 km.
Japan on alert
Air raid sirens sounded on the South Korean island of Ulleungdo, 120 km east of the Korean Peninsula, for the second straight day, local media reported. Alarms were also raised in northern Japan, although the missile ultimately did not fly over the archipelago, contrary to what the authorities originally said. According to Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada, the projectile “disappeared over the Sea of Japan.”
“The continuous rocket fire day after day is a crime and cannot be tolerated,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday. This launch “underscores the need for all countries to fully implement Security Council resolutions” sanctioning North Korea, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
On October 4, a North Korean ballistic missile flew over Japan for the first time in five years. As of Wednesday, North Korea had already fired 23 missiles, one of which crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which extends the inter-Korean land border at sea, while remaining in international waters.
“Watchful Storm”
According to the South Korean military, it was the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953 that a North Korean projectile ended its course so close to southern territorial waters. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said Wednesday the shooting constituted “a de facto territorial invasion.” Southern authorities have closed several air corridors over the Sea of Japan to “enhance the safety of passengers on routes to the United States and Japan guarantee”.
The North Korean army then conducted around 100 artillery barrages near the inner-Korean border in the east of the peninsula. The South retaliated by launching three missiles at sea, near the area where one of the North’s projectiles had landed.
This show of force by Pyongyang comes as South Korea and the United States are conducting the largest air exercises in their history in the region. The two allies decided on Thursday to expand these exercises “in view of the recent provocations from the north,” the South Korean army said. North Korea sees this type of exercise as a dress rehearsal for a future invasion of its territory or the overthrow of its regime.
Dubbed the “Vigilant Storm,” the exercise represented “an aggressive and provocative military maneuver against the DPRK,” said the North Korean regime, which threatened Seoul and Washington “to pay the most terrible price in history.” The United States and South Korea have been warning for months that North Korea is preparing a nuclear test that would be the seventh in its history and the first in five years.
Future nuclear test?
In late September, Kim Jong Un’s regime passed a new doctrine that proclaimed the “irreversible” nature of the country’s nuclear power status, made future talks on its denuclearization impossible, and reserved the right to carry out pre-emptive strikes. This proclamation was followed in September and October by a long series of missile tests presented by Pyongyang as “tactical nuclear” simulations.
The latest series of shots “are preliminary celebrations for their future nuclear test,” predicted Ahn Chan-il, a researcher specializing in North Korea. “It also looks like a series of practical tests for their tactical nuclear use,” he told AFP.
North Korea broke its 2017 self-imposed moratorium on ICBM tests last March, but has since suffered multiple setbacks. Also in March, an Hwasong-17, believed to be the most powerful ICBM developed by Pyongyang, apparently exploded shortly after launch, and a fireball was visible in the sky over the northern capital. And last May, the South Korean military also reported a failed ICBM launch.