North Korea fired a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile toward the sea east of the Korean Peninsula at approximately 7:10 a.m. Thursday, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The missile flew approximately 86 minutes, the longest time of any North Korean missile to date, traveling about 1,000 kilometers before falling into the sea, according to the Japanese Ministry of Defense. The altitude of the missile was estimated to be at least 7,000 kilometers, suggesting that it could be a new type of ICBM.
Col. Lee Sung-jun, spokesperson for the South Korean JCS, told a briefing that North Korea conducted Thursday's test to see if the missile could fly “farther and higher” than previous missiles.
The South Korean JCS said the long-range ballistic missile launch was an “act of grave provocation” that threatened the peace and stability of the region and the international community, as well as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions that prohibit North Korea's use of ballistic missile science and technology.
After the missile was launched, South Korea, the US and Japan held a trilateral coordination meeting to “closely track the situation and share related information to further strengthen the joint defense posture against any threats or provocations by North Korea,” the JCS said.
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 “strongly condemned in the strongest terms with one voice” the expanding military cooperation between Russia and North Korea.
In the statement, the two reaffirmed the routinizing of deployments of US strategic assets to joint exercises as committed to under the Washington Declaration, as a demonstration of the US commitment to defend South Korea.
South Korea's Defense Intelligence Agency told the National Assembly on Wednesday that North Korea may stage a large-scale provocation, such as an ICBM launch or a nuclear weapons test, around the time of the US presidential election on Nov. 5 in a bid to get Washington’s attention.
Preparations for another test at North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test facilities, where the past six nuclear tests were conducted, were “nearly complete," according to lawmakers who were briefed by the military intelligence authorities.
