◀ anchor ▶
After the US president met with the leaders of South Korea and Japan one following another, Russian and Chinese bombers invaded the Aviation Identification Zones of Korea and Japan.
And North Korea fired an ICBM this morning, and our security authorities said that North Korea is likely to test a nuclear bomb loaded on this missile soon.
All of these recent events near the Korean Peninsula are intertwined.
We will tell you in detail at the news desk today.
First news.
North Korea fired three missiles in a row into the East Sea this morning, including an intercontinental ballistic missile and an ICBM.
As if waiting for US President Biden to complete his Asian tour, he launched an armed provocation.
First of all, this is reporter Hong Eui-pyo.
◀ Report ▶
At 6 a.m. today, a missile was launched into the East Sea from the Sunan area of Pyongyang, North Korea.
The intercontinental ballistic missile, estimated to be an ICBM class, has a flight range of regarding 360 kilometers and an altitude of 540 kilometers.
North Korea fired short-range ballistic missiles one at a time at 6:37 and 42 a.m.
A second missile soon disappeared and is believed to have failed, and a third was detected as flying 760 kilometers.
The first missile is a new ICBM ‘Hwasong-17’, and the other two missiles are KN-23, a hypersonic missile called ‘North Korean version of Iskander’.
[김준락/합동참모본부 공보실장]
“The detailed specifications (of the North Korean ballistic missile) are being closely analyzed by the South Korean and US intelligence agencies.”
North Korea has fired a mixture of ICBMs and short-range ballistic missiles, which is unusual. The ICBM ‘Hwasong-17’ can reach the entire U.S. mainland, and the KN-23 missile is evaluated to be within range of the entire Korean Peninsula while avoiding interception.
North Korea claims that all of these missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The launch took place just 12 hours following U.S. President Biden boarded the plane to return home following a trip to Korea and Japan.
North Korea’s attitude, which avoided provocations immediately following the US president’s visit to South Korea, has completely changed to the extent that the ICBM launch 21 days following the Korea-US summit in November 2017 has been the closest so far.
[양무진/북한대학원대학교 교수]
“It is a kind of dissatisfaction with the result that the missile was fired right following the trip to Korea and Japan with the result, and through it, a military force demonstration was carried out (I think).”
Kim Tae-hyo, deputy director of the National Security Office, also described the provocation as a “simultaneous threat to the ROK-U.S. alliance,” and said, “All missiles must be prepared with nuclear in mind.”
This is MBC News Hong Eui-pyo.
Video coverage: Hae-dong Kim / Video editing: Ha-eun Kim
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