Pyongyang has launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), but the launch appears to have failed, the South Korean military said on Thursday.
“North Korea’s launch of an ICBM likely ended in failure,” the Seoul army said Thursday, hours after announcing three missile launches fired from Pyongyang.
The first missile, launched just before 8 a.m. (midnight in Paris), headed for the Sea of Japan, east of the peninsula. Alerts were quickly broadcast over the Japanese airwaves by authorities, urging the population to seek shelter.
The alarm was quickly lifted: the missile ultimately did not cross the archipelago, “but [a] disappeared over the Sea of Japan,” said Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada.
Two more “short-range” missiles
This “long-range” missile was dubbed the “Intercontinental Ballistic Missile” (ICBM) by Seoul when it was initially considered an “unidentified missile,” Yonhap news agency explains.
According to South Korean authorities, the rocket was fired from the Sunan region north of Pyongyang. This is the first ICBM launch from the north since late May, Seoul’s military confirmed to Yonhap.
Two more “short-range” missiles were fired by North Korea on Thursday. As of Wednesday, Pyongyang had already fired 23 rockets, one of which crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which extends the inter-Korean land border at sea, while remaining in international waters.