“Wreckage on the ground” –

One of the two ballistic missiles launched this morning by North Korea may have suffered a malfunction, exploding while still on North Korean territory and scattering debris on the ground. This is the hypothesis formulated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean Armed Forces, which just this morning had reported the launch of two ballistic missiles by Pyongyang, and which in the last few hours has examined the data collected by radar and satellites. According to Seoul, a theater ballistic missile was launched from a site along the western coast of North Korea in a northeasterly direction at 5:05 this morning (22:05 in Italy), and apparently completed a flight of about 600 kilometers. A second missile, of an unspecified type, was launched about 10 minutes later, but its flight apparently stopped after only 120 kilometers, and the missile may have exploded in the air not far from the capital Pyongyang.

North Korea’s last missile launch was on Wednesday, when Pyongyang said the next day that it had successfully tested a ballistic missile designed to carry multiple conventional or nuclear warheads. During the test, the North Korean Missile Administration “successfully conducted separation and guidance control tests for individual mobile warheads,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The agency said the test was a major step toward Pyongyang’s full adoption of MIRV (multiple independent warhead) technology. Seoul had speculated that Pyongyang had instead unsuccessfully tested a hypersonic warhead.

Only yesterday, North Korea, in a statement from its Foreign Ministry, condemned the “repeated, reckless and provocative military actions” against Pyongyang by the United States, Japan and South Korea, warning of “fatal consequences”. The ministry made this statement after the joint exercise Freedom Edge, held by the three countries from 27 to 29 June, warning that North Korea intends to “discourage acts that disturb peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the rest of the world” and “will firmly defend the sovereignty, security and interests of the State and peace in the region with offensive and overwhelming countermeasures”. For Pyongyang, the trilateral exercises are part of the strategic plan for world domination by the United States, which is putting pressure on Russia and China, while the two allies are “vassals”: Japan “is the largest overseas military base of the United States” and South Korea is “a military colony”.