Authorities in South Korea and Japan denounced Friday the launch of a North Korean ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, known as the East Sea in the region, after it launched another short-range ballistic missile the day before.
The South Korean military has indicated that it has indications that Pyongyang has launched a long-range ballistic missile, Yonhap news agency reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the «apparent intercontinental ballistic missile» launched by North Korea «probably fell within Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone,» he told reporters in Thailand, where he is visiting, reports Kiodo news agency.
Kishida condemned the repeated launches, which he described as «totally unacceptable». He assured that the Japanese government has strongly protested, while for the moment no damage to planes or ships has been reported.
The Japanese Coast Guard, which alerted the fishing boats, reported, an hour after the missile launch, that the projectile was expected to fall about 210 kilometers west of the island of Oshima, in Hokkaido, in the north of the archipelago.
The projectile would have flown about 1,000 kilometers on a «lofted» trajectory reaching an altitude of up to 6,000 kilometers. Intelligence authorities in Seoul and Washington are closely analyzing the details.
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said the missile flew for 69 minutes. He also assured that «if we calculate the long-range missile», it could «have a range of more than 5,000 kilometers, which would include the continental United States», according to statements reported by NHK.
For its part, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff has «severely» warned against the projectiles launched by Pyongyang. «North Korea’s launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles is a serious provocation and a grave threat that harms peace and stability on the Korean peninsula as well as the international community,» the agency added.
The missile launch comes as the South Korean and U.S. defense ministries have established a dedicated missile policy advisory body known as the Consultative Missile Response Policy Group (CMWG) in Seoul, Yonhap reports.
The aim of the body is to lay the groundwork for «deeper» ballistic missile policy coordination in the wake of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, «with frequent and unprecedented missile provocations.»
North Korea warned the United States on Thursday that it would take «fiercer» military action in the event of continued military activities with Seoul and Tokyo in the region, the state agency KCNA reported.
«The more enthusiastic the U.S. is in the ‘enhanced offer of extended deterrence’ with its allies and the more it intensifies provocative and boastful military activities on the Korean peninsula, the fiercer the military reaction of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) will be in direct proportion to it,» North Korean Minister Choe Son Hui said.
This new test by Pyongyang further escalates tensions in the region after North Korea has in recent weeks launched dozens of ballistic missiles in tests banned by UN Security Council resolutions, in response to US-North Korean military maneuvers which it considers an invasion rehearsal.
The United States, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has shared its evidence that North Korea is «likely» to conduct a nuclear missile test, its first since 2017, after noting an escalation of tension in recent weeks.
