5 days to US election, North Korea fires ICBM with longest flight yet

Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun speaks during a news briefing held after the annual Security Consultative Meeting at the Pentagon on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

North Korea fired what could be a new intercontinental ballistic missile toward the sea east of the Korean Peninsula on Thursday, a day after South Korean defense intelligence authorities warned of Pyongyang preparing to stage large-scale provocations in the run-up to the US presidential election.

The missile was launched at a deliberately raised angle to reach a maximum altitude of 7,000 kilometers, a record height. The missile flew for approximately 86 minutes, the longest time of any North Korean missile to date, traveling about 1,000 kilometers before falling into the waters between North Korea and Japan, according to South Korean and Japanese assessments.

The last time North Korea launched an ICBM was in December last year. It was a test of the solid-fueled Hwasong-18, which has a potential range of around 15,000 kilometers on a normal trajectory. North Korea last fired ballistic missiles last month, when it tested short-range ballistic missiles.

The United Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from launching all ballistic missiles and using related science and technology.

Col. Lee Sung-jun, spokesperson for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a briefing that North Korea conducted Thursday’s test to see if the missile could fly “farther and higher” than previous missiles.

North Korea acknowledged in a statement carried by the state official Korean Central News Agency later Thursday that its military launched an ICBM under the watch of its leader Kim Jong-un. Kim was quoted as saying North Korea “will never stray from its course of strengthening nuclear forces.”

On Wednesday, South Korea’s Defense Intelligence Command reported to the National Assembly that North Korea was ready to launch what could be an ICBM with the aim of grabbing Washington’s attention around the time of the US election on Nov. 5.

Shortly after the missile firing early Thursday, Seoul called a meeting of the National Security Council, where President Yoon Suk Yeol called for “vigilance and readiness so that North Korea cannot plan any surprise provocations.”

At the NSC, new sanctions targeting North Korea were announced to restrict its ballistic missile developments.

The South Korean JCS said the missile launch by North Korea constituted a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibiting its use of ballistic missile science and technology.

The JCS also said South Korea was closely coordinating with the US and Japan to “track the situation and share related information to further strengthen the joint defense posture against any threats or provocations by North Korea.”

The missile launch follows a joint condemnation of North Korea’s dispatch of troops to Russia by the defense chiefs of South Korea and the US at the annual Security Consultative Meeting in Washington.

Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a statement saying they “condemned in the strongest terms with one voice” the expanding military cooperation between Russia and North Korea.

In the statement issued after this year’s meeting, which was held for the 56th time, there was no mention of denuclearizing North Korea, which had made a routine appearance for the past nine years.

Last year, the two sides said they would pursue efforts such as sanctions and dialogue to get North Korea to denuclearize.