North fires ICBM into sea amid worsening war of words

North Korea

Published: 18 Dec. 2023, 17:34 Updated: 18 Dec. 2023, 19:01

North fires ICBM into sea amid worsening war of words

North Korean test-fires a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on July 12 in a photo carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. Pyongyang launched another ICBM on Monday, its fifth this year. [YONHAP]

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) toward the East Sea on Monday, a move immediately condemned by South Korea, the United States and Japan.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the North launched a long-range missile from around Pyongyang at 8:24 a.m. at a lofted angle. It flew around 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) before landing in the East Sea.

The latest missile launch comes as the nuclear-powered USS Missouri, a U.S. Virginia-class attack submarine, arrived at a naval port in Busan Sunday to strengthen the combined defense posture with South Korea's Navy.

This marks the North's fifth ICBM launch since February, the highest number in a given year.

Military analysts in Seoul Monday raised the possibility of the North having launched another solid fuel Hwasong-18 ICBM, which it tested twice before this year. The ICBM is estimated to be able to travel some 15,000 kilometers, which puts all of the U.S. mainland in range.

However, exact details of the missile's trajectory and whether it used solid fuel were unclear as the JCS said further in-depth analysis is underway.

The JCS said the South Korean military is maintaining a "full readiness posture" through close communication with the United States and Japan, sharing data on the North Korean ballistic missile launch.

This comes as Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have agreed to implement a real-time missile warning data-sharing system by this month to strengthen trilateral security cooperation against Pyongyang's threats.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said it estimated the North's ICBM on Monday flew for 73 minutes with a maximum altitude of more than 6,000 kilometers, landing in waters outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) at around 9:37 a.m. This is similar to the flight time and trajectory of the Hwasong-18 launched in July.

Pyongyang fired a Hwasong-15 liquid-fuel ICBM in February and a liquid-fuel Hwasong-17 in March. It fired a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 ICBM into the East Sea on April 13 and conducted a second test-fire of its Hwasong-18 on July 12. Both Hwasong-18 missiles traveled around 1,000 kilometers at a lofted trajectory.

Kim Tae-hyo, South Korea's principal deputy national security adviser, told reporters in Washington last Friday ahead of nuclear strategy talks with the United States that North Korea may launch an ICBM later this month.

Monday's ICBM test marks North Korea's second missile launch in two consecutive days.

North Korea fired one short-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Sunday night from around Pyongyang at about 10:38 p.m., which flew about 570 kilometers before landing in the East Sea.

Sunday marked the 12th anniversary of the death of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, father of current leader Kim Jong-un.

The missile launches could be in retaliation to the South Korean and U.S. nuclear consultative meeting on Friday and the arrival of the USS Missouri submarine on the peninsula in a show of force against the North's nuclear threats on Sunday.

The North could also be mindful of the closer trilateral security cooperation with Japan, marked by a security advisers' meeting in Seoul earlier this month agreeing to new trilateral initiatives to counter missile and cybercrime threats posed by North Korea.

On Friday, South Korea and the United States held the second meeting of the bilateral Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) in Washington. The two allies agreed to complete establishing guidelines on planning and operating a shared nuclear strategy by the middle of next year.

The two sides also agreed to incorporate nuclear operations into joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States starting as early as next year, potentially beginning with the summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield drills.

In response to the North's latest ICBM launch, the White House said that the national security advisers of South Korea, the United States and Japan "condemned" Monday's test as a "flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions."

South Korean National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong spoke on the phone separately with U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and their Japanese counterpart, Takeo Akiba, immediately after the ICBM launch, the presidential office here also confirmed.

Sullivan "reaffirmed the United States' unwavering commitment to the defense" of the two countries, the White House said, and the three sides agreed that their engagement marked an "important exercise" of the agreements made at the Camp David trilateral summit in August by President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The advisers further "underscored the importance of their work to share missile warning data and to coordinate responses to growing cooperation" between North Korea and Russia, the White House added in a statement.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, fourth from left, speaks at a National Security Council meeting at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul on Monday after North Korea launched a long-range missile into the East Sea earlier in the morning. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

President Yoon convened a National Security Council (NSC) meeting on Monday and ordered a prompt joint response between South Korea, the United States and Japan by "utilizing the real-time data sharing system for North Korean missiles."

He further called for an "immediate and overwhelming response to any provocations by North Korea against South Korean territory and people," the presidential office said in a statement.

The NSC standing committee meeting presided over by Cho was attended by related ministers, vice ministers and the JCS chairman, who briefed the president on the situation.

The NSC condemned North Korea's latest ICBM launch as "seriously threatening peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and the international community."

North Korea's launch of a military spy satellite on Nov. 21 and its latest ICBM test, the NSC added in the statement, is in "direct disregard of the warnings by the international community and the UN Security Council."

Yoon instructed the NCG to expedite its tasks and further strengthen Seoul-Washington nuclear deterrence capabilities against Pyongyang and told aides to "make an effort to prepare for the possibility of additional provocations by North Korea during year-end holidays."

The NCG, launched formally in July following the Washington Declaration by Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden in April, is designed to strengthen U.S. extended deterrence against threats from North Korea through enhanced dialogue and information sharing on nuclear strategy. The deployment of American strategic assets on the peninsula demonstrates U.S. commitment to its nuclear umbrella.

North Korea's Defense Ministry, in a commentary carried by state media, indicated its concerns over South Korean and U.S. military cooperation and warned that "any attempt to use armed forces against the DPRK will face a preemptive and deadly counteraction."

DPRK is the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The ministry's spokesman, according to an English-language report of the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday, referred to the agreements reached at the second NCG meeting as an "an open declaration on nuclear confrontation" to make use of nuclear weapons "a fait accompli in case of emergency."

The spokesman also referred to the dispatch of the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Missouri as "a dangerous plot for a nuclear war."

The North, in a KCNA report on Monday, also slammed South Korean military leaders' vow to "overwhelmingly" retaliate in the event of Pyongyang's provocations, warning that if the South "continues to bark noisily, it could be struck by a bolt of lightning."

Last Wednesday, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik warned a "hell of destruction" awaits North Korea if the country carries out "reckless actions."

The South's JCS, in turn, warned North Korea to immediately halt its "reckless provocations" on Monday.

"Despite our military's repeated warnings, North Korea continues to carry out threatening provocations," Maj. Gen. Lee Seung-o, director of operations at the JCS, said in a press briefing at the Defense Ministry in Yongsan, central Seoul. "We sternly warn once again that North Korea holds full responsibility for all incidents that occur hereafter."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]