North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday, according to the South Korean military, the latest in a record series of missile launches in recent weeks, as Seoul and Washington expect Pyongyang to be preparing for an imminent nuclear test.
US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Canada on Friday, following North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, a White House official said.
The official said Harris, who is participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) summit in Bangkok, invited the leaders of the five countries on the sidelines of the summit “to consult on the recent launch of a ballistic missile by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” that fell off the coast of Japan. “.
intercontinental ballistic missile
A defense official told AFP that the South Korean General Staff “believes that North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile,” without elaborating.
South Korea said on Friday that North Korea had launched what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, a day following it launched a smaller missile and warned of “heavier military responses” to the United States’ enhanced security presence in the region.
Japan also confirmed the missile launch, describing what happened as “totally unacceptable,” said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
“The ballistic missile launched by North Korea appears to have fallen in our exclusive economic zone in western Hokkaido,” Kishida said, describing this missile launch as “totally unacceptable,” noting that there were no reports of damage to any ships or aircraft.
“We strongly protested to North Korea. Pyongyang is repeating provocative actions at an unprecedented pace. We strongly reiterate that this is totally unacceptable,” Kishida said.
“Japan, the United States and South Korea must coordinate closely to work towards the complete denuclearization of North Korea,” he added.
Prior to that, the South Korean army had indicated that it had detected “the launch of an unspecified ballistic missile towards the east.”
short range ballistic missile
On Thursday, North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile, and its Foreign Minister, Choe Son Hui, warned of “stronger military responses” to US moves to boost its military presence, saying Washington was taking “a gamble you will regret,” according to Archyde.com.
In a statement released by state media, Choe denounced a trilateral summit held Sunday between the United States, South Korea and Japan, during which the leaders of those countries criticized Pyongyang’s missile launch tests and pledged greater security cooperation, according to Archyde.com.
The United States “strongly” condemned Thursday what it described as a “long-range ballistic missile test” launched by North Korea, which Japan said had a sufficient range to hit the American continent.
“This launch is a flagrant violation of many UN Security Council resolutions and unnecessarily raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson.
And she confirmed in a statement that President Joe Biden and his team “will continue close consultations with allies and partners.”
Continuous violations
On November 3, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, but the launch apparently failed, according to Seoul and Tokyo.
Last March, Pyongyang violated a moratorium imposed on itself in 2017 to launch this type of long-range missile.
The United States, South Korea and Japan have intensified their joint military exercises in recent months in the face of threats from North Korea, which sees these exercises as training to invade its territory or overthrow its regime.
This year, North Korea conducted a record number of missile launches, which are prohibited by United Nations Security Council resolutions under sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its missile and nuclear programmes, according to Archyde.com.
Analysts say that North Korea, which is prohibited under United Nations resolutions from launching ballistic missiles, has become more emboldened because of the possibility of escaping any other sanctions that may be imposed on it, due to the divisions in the Security Council, according to “Agence France Presse”.