North Korea tests an ICBM Thursday in a show of military might, just hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan meet at a Tokyo summit expected to be overshadowed by northern nuclear threats -Korean
The launch was North Korea’s first intercontinental ballistic missile test in a month and its third weapons test this week, as South Korean and US forces continued joint military exercises that Pyongyang considered like a rehearsal for an invasion.
The South Korean military said the North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile flew into waters east of the Korean peninsula after being launched from the North Korean capital Pyongyang around 7:10 a.m.
The region of Sunan, home to Pyongyang International Airport, has in recent years become North Korea’s main proving ground for launching most of its intercontinental ballistic missiles, which all circle the territory at high angles to avoid neighboring countries.
Japanese Defense Minister Koichi Hamada said the missile likely landed in waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone after flying for about an hour. The landing site was about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the western island of Daeso, which is close to where other North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles fell after test flights in recent months. Thursday’s launch came hours before South Korean President Yoon Hek-yeol is due to travel to Tokyo for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida aimed at mending strained relations and boosting trilateral cooperation on security. security with the United States to counter the North Korean threat.
After conducting a record number of missile tests last year, North Korea has expanded its testing activities this year, including the February 18 launch of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile aimed at striking the states -United.
S mainland. After the ICBM was launched, North Korea said the test was aimed at further strengthening its “deadly” nuclear strike capability against rivals.
North Korea is conducting a series of aggressive weapons tests that were widely expected; last week, leader Kim Jong Un ordered his army to prepare to push back what his country’s rivals called “frenzied war preparations”, citing “This is a major exercise going on between states -United.
and Korea.
Earlier this week, Pyongyang fired a cruise missile from a submarine and a short-range ballistic missile into waters to the east. North Korea also fired at least six short-range ballistic missiles from its west coast last week during a drill overseen by Kim Jong-un, an incident state media described as a mock attack on an unspecified South Korean airport.
United States
– The South Korean drills, which started Monday and are due to continue until March 23, include computer simulations and live-fire drills.
Last year, Pyongyang tested more than 70 missiles, including nuclear missiles targeting South Korea, Japan, and the US mainland. North Korea said many of the tests were a warning to the old South Korea-U.
S. Military maneuvers.
The South Korea-Japan summit was held last week after Yoon’s government took a major step towards mending bilateral relations strained by Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.
His plan – to use local funds to compensate Koreans forced into industrial slave labor during colonial rule, without donations from the Japanese companies that employed them – met with backlash domestically, but reflects improving relations between Yoon and Japan and his determination to promote Seoul-Tokyo Development. Washington’s security cooperation.
Under Kishida’s leadership, Tokyo also made a major break from its self-defense-only post-World War II doctrine, adopting a new national security strategy in December that included acquiring preemptive strike capabilities and cruise missile targets to work against growing threats to growth from North Korea, China, and Russia.
