North Korea fires suspected long-range ICBM towards sea, South Korea says

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According to South Korea’s military, North Korea launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into waters off its eastern coast in what is thought to be the longest flight-time ever for a North Korean missile.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the missile launch towards the East Sea, which is also known as the Sea of Japan, was detected at about 7: 10am local time (22: 10 GMT).

“North Korea’s ballistic missile appears to be an ICBM fired on a lofted trajectory”, the JCS said in a text message, the country’s Yonhap news agency reports.

North Korea’s launch of longer-range missiles in “lofted trajectory” means firing the missile almost vertically. A missile can then land a short horizontal distance away from the launch site while traveling very high.

According to Pyongyang, these launches will help it better understand the difficulties faced when a long-range warhead re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.

Japan’s Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said the missile, which had been expected to land about 300km (190 miles) west of Japan’s Okushiri Island, off the country’s northern Hokkaido region, had flown the longest time of any of Pyongyang’s past missiles.

“It was the longest time flying of any missile so far”, Nakatani told reporters.

“I think it may be different from conventional missiles”, he said.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, North Korea hasn’t launched an ICBM since December 2023 and hasn’t tested-launched ballistic missiles since September of this year.

The most recent reported missile launch comes a day after South Korea’s military intelligence agency reported that North Korea was about to start testing a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States.

The launch comes in response to concerns about North Korea’s alleged troop withdrawal from Russia to support its conflict with Ukraine.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday that North Korean troops carrying Russian weapons and wearing Russian uniforms were heading toward Ukraine, in what he called a dangerous and destabilizing development.

According to South Korea, more than 3, 000 troops have been moved close to fighting in western Russia and sent by North Korea to Russia.