North Korea has confirmed that it fired a missile detected on Saturday by South Korea and Japan. It fell within Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
North Korea confirmed on Sunday that it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Saturday as a warning to Washington and Seoul, saying the “surprise” successful exercise demonstrates “its deadly nuclear counterattack capabilities.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered a surprise “launch drill” at 8 a.m. local time on Saturday. A Hwasong-15 missile was then fired from Pyongyang airport during the afternoon, according to the state agency KCNA. The first test of a Hwasong-15 was conducted by Pyongyang in 2017.
The South Korean military had claimed to have detected the launch of an ICBM on Saturday at 5:22 p.m. local time which Tokyo said flew for 66 minutes before falling into its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and which, according to its observations, would be capable to hit the American continent.
An upcoming exercise for South Korea and the United States
This new missile launch was quickly denounced by the G7 countries, the European Union, South Korea, the United States and Japan.
North Korean authorities hailed the trial – the country’s first in seven weeks – which they said demonstrates “the effective (combat) capability of ICBM units, capable (of carrying out) a mobile and powerful counterattack”, according to KCNA. The launch is “clear evidence” of the reliability of Pyongyang’s “powerful physical nuclear deterrent”, the agency added.
He came as South Korea and the United States prepare to conduct a simulation exercise, to be held next week in Washington, to discuss what to do if the nuclear weapon by Pyongyang.
Pyongyang threatened on Friday to react with “unprecedented” force to the upcoming US-South Korean maneuvers, seeing in them preparations for an armed conflict and the cause of a deterioration of the security situation on the Korean peninsula.
North Korea ‘monitors’ rapprochement between Washington and Seoul
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul are already at their lowest level in years. In 2022, the North called its status as a nuclear power “irreversible” and Kim Jong Un called for “exponential” growth in the production of armaments, including tactical nuclear weapons.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in response, sought to strengthen cooperation with the United States, his key ally in the field of security, pledging to increase joint military exercises and improve the offer Washington’s expanded deterrence, including through nuclear means.
On Sunday, Pyongyang’s spokeswoman and sister of its leader, Kim Yo Jong, said it was these measures taken by Seoul and Washington that “constantly endanger” the peninsula and deteriorate its “stability”, according to KCNA. .
“I warn that we will monitor every movement of the enemy and engage the corresponding, very powerful and overwhelming countermeasure against all such movements hostile towards us,” she added.
