North Korea under the leadership of Kim Jong Un

N Korea fires banned missile in longest flight yet

North Korea has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, which flew for 86 minutes - the longest flight recorded yet - and over 1,000km, before falling into waters off its east coast, South Korea and Japan said.

The ICBM was fired at a sharply-raised angle and reached as high as 7,000km (4,350 miles). This means that it if were launched horizontally, it would have covered a further distance.

The launch on Thursday comes at a time of deteriorating relations between the two Koreas and Pyongyang's increasingly aggresive rhetoric towards Seoul.

South Korea had also warned on Wednesday that the North was preparing to fire its ICBM close to the US presidential election on 5 November.

Seoul's defence ministry said the test was intended to develop weapons that "fire farther and higher".

South Korea said it would impose fresh sanctions on the North in response to the launch.

The US called Thursday's launch a "flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions".

"It only demonstrates that [North Korea] continues to prioritise its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes over the well-being of its people," the White House's National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement.

Pyongyang last fired an ICBM in December 2023, in defiance of long-standing and crippling UN sanctions. That missile travelled for 73 minutes and covered about 1,000km.

In a rare same-day report on state media, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Thursday's launch shows "our will to respond to our enemies" and described it as "appropriate military action".

"I affirm that [North Korea] will never change its line of bolstering up its nuclear forces," Kim said.

North Korea experts believe the launch was aimed at increasing its missiles' payload.

Pyongyang has been developing missiles that can "hit the US mainland even if it carries a larger and heavier warhead" or even multiple warheads, said Kim Dong-yup, an assistant professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

Neighbouring Japan said it monitored Thursday's launch.

South Korean and US officials met after the launch and agreed to "take strong and varied response measures", the South's military said in a statement.

"Our military maintains full readiness as we closely share North Korean ballistic information with US and Japanese authorities," it added.

Thursday's launch comes after South Korea and US accused North Korea of sending troops to Russia to support Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.

The Pentagon estimates that around 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed to train in eastern Russia. A "small number" has been sent to Kursk in Russia's west, with several thousand more on their way, the US said earlier this week.

The alleged presence of North Korean troops in Russia has added to growing concerns over deepening ties between Putin and Kim.

Pyongyang and Moscow have neither confirmed nor denied these allegations.

BBC
 
North Korea confirms launch of ICBM in longest-ever ballistic missile test

North Korea has confirmed it launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) towards waters off its eastern coast in what was the longest flight time yet for a North Korean missile, authorities in South Korea and Japan said, raising fears of advanced weapons development by Pyongyang.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was present at the missile test launch on Thursday and issued a warning to his enemies, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

“The test-fire is an appropriate military action that fully meets the purpose of informing the rivals, who have intentionally escalated the regional situation and posed a threat to the security of our Republic recently, of our counteraction will,” Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement the missile launched towards the East Sea, which is also known as the Sea of Japan, was detected at about 7:10am (22:10 GMT) and was fired on a “lofted trajectory”.

The JCS said later that initial analysis points to a possible use by North Korea of a newly developed solid-fuel booster for its long-range missiles.


 
North Korea told the UN point-blank that it's speeding up nuclear weapons development

Pyongyang went loud and proud on Monday about its plans for nuclear weapons as the United Nations grilled its representative over a recent missile launch.

"We will accelerate and will not let up on the buildup of our nuclear force that can counter any threat presented by hostile nuclear-weapons states," Kim Song, the North Korean ambassador to the UN, said at a Security Council meeting.

"There will ever never be any change in this line," he added, referring to North Korea as a "responsible nuclear-weapon state."

Kim's statement came as Japan reported that North Korea fired at least seven short-range ballistic missiles from its east coast that ultimately fell into Japan-administrated waters.

Launched on the eve of the US election, the missiles were characterized by Pyongyang as a response to recent joint military drills between the US, South Korea, and Japan involving their long-range bombers.

Those joint drills were a signal to North Korea after its Thursday launch of what it said was a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile dubbed the Hwasong-19, which also landed in the Sea of Japan.

Its trajectory was recorded as Pyongyang's longest-ever ballistic-missile test, reaching an altitude of about 4,780 miles, though previous tests have extended farther in latitudinal distance.

The US, Japan, and South Korea have condemned the launch.

In his comments to the UN, Kim said the Hwasong-19 had "no slightest negative impact on the security of the neighboring countries."


 
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