North Korea yesterday said that it had test-fired one of its newest and most powerful missiles to boost its nuclear deterrent, its first such test since being accused of sending soldiers to Russia.
Seoul had warned a day earlier that the nuclear-armed North was preparing to test-fire another intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or even conduct a nuclear test ahead of US elections on Tuesday next week.
The launch came just hours after US and South Korean defense chiefs called on Pyongyang to withdraw its troops from Russia, warning that North Korean soldiers in Russian uniforms were being deployed for possible action against Ukraine.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The initial judgement so far is that [Pyongyang] may have test-fired a new solid-propelled long-range ballistic missile,” Seoul’s military said, adding that the missile had flown about 1,000km after being fired on a lofted trajectory — meaning up, not out.
Developing advanced solid-fuel missiles — which are quicker to launch and harder to detect and destroy in advance — has long been a goal for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
North Korea defended the sanctions-busting launch, calling it “an appropriate military action that fully meets the purpose of informing the rivals ... of our counteraction will,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported Kim as saying.
The test “updated the recent records of the strategic missile capability,” of North Korea, it said, with Kim vowing that his country “will never change its line of bolstering up its nuclear forces.”
Tokyo said that the “ICBM-class” missile had flown for longer than any other previously tested by the North, being airborne for about 86 minutes.
“We estimate that its flying altitude was the highest we have seen,” Japanese Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani told reporters.
Washington slammed the launch as “a flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement yesterday condemned North Korea’s firing of the ballistic missile.
It reiterated its serious concerns and strongly condemned North Korea’s “wanton actions,” which it said undermined regional peace and stability.
Taiwan would continue to work with like-minded countries to jointly safeguard freedom, openness, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, it added.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it was “concerned about developments on the [Korean] peninsula,” and urged a “political resolution” to the issue.
Seoul, Washington and Tokyo — key regional security allies — would respond with joint military drills involving US strategic assets, Seoul said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol also said the country would “designate new independent sanctions” on the North and work with partners and the UN to penalize Pyongyang’s “habitual violations of [UN] Security Council resolutions.”
North Korea’s missile launch “seems to have been carried out to divert attention from international criticism of its troop deployment,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
Seoul has long accused the North of sending weapons to help Moscow fight Kyiv, and alleged that Pyongyang has moved to deploy soldiers en mass in the wake of Kim’s signing of a mutual defense deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June.
The troop deployment poses a “significant security threat,” Seoul has said, with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Wednesday calling on the North to pull their troops out.
South Korea’s military had warned lawmakers the day before that preparations were “nearly complete for an ICBM-class long-range missile” and that a launch could be aimed at testing the North’s atmospheric re-entry technology.
Seoul has warned that Russia might be providing new technology or expertise to Pyongyang in return for weapons and troops to help them fight Ukraine.
It is possible “Russia actually provided new technology for re-entering the atmosphere,” said Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies.
However, it is more likely that yesterday’s test was a bid to distract from the troop deployment and get “the world’s attention ahead of the US presidential election” Ahn added.
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