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 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 missile was launched at a deliberately raised angle to reach a maximum altitude of 7,000 kilometers, a record height.

This ICBM is the first that North Korea launched since December last year, when it tested the solid-fueled Hwasong-18, which has a potential range of around 15,000 kilometers on a normal trajectory. The last ballistic missiles North Korea fired were multiple short-range ballistic missiles this September.

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 in Korean as saying North Korea “will never stray from its course of strengthening its nuclear forces.”

On Wednesday, South Korea’s defense intelligence authorities 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 next week. The defense intelligence authorities also said North Korea might carry out its seventh nuclear weapons test for strategic leverage.

Shortly after the ICBM firing early Thursday, Seoul held 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 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.” “Our military strongly urges the Kim Jong-un regime to immediately cease illegal and reckless provocations, including the release of trash balloons and dispatch of troops as human shields to Russia,” it said.

According to the National Intelligence Service in Seoul on Tuesday, North Korea plans to send a total of around 10,900 soldiers to join Russia in the war on Ukraine. In return, North Korea would most likely receive advanced technology to improve its space program, as it seeks to launch another military reconnaissance satellite, the NIS said.

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the US condemned Russia deploying North Korea troops in the war at the annual Security Consultative Meeting in Washington.

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

In the statement issued at this year’s meeting, there was no mention of denuclearizing North Korea, although Austin noted that any nuclear attack by the North against US allies and partners would “result in the end of the Kim regime.”

In last year’s statement, the two sides said they would pursue efforts such as sanctions and dialogue to get North Korea to denuclearize, as they had for the past nine years.