North Korea Tests Intercontinental Ballistic Missile; Japan, US Condemn Move

People watch a TV showing a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, 24 March, 2022.

Photo: PTI

North Korea reportedly conducted its largest intercontinental ballistic missile test ever on Thursday, 24 March, the militaries of Japan and South Korea said as they expressed their outrage over the matter, AFP reported.

In retaliation, South Korea's military said it fired missiles from the ground, sea and air.

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the missile was fired on Thursday afternoon from "Sunan and had a range of 6,200 kilometres (3,850 miles)", AFP reported.

According to the Japanese government, the missile flew for 71 minutes and landed in Japan's territorial waters.

Nearly a dozen weapon tests have been launched so far by Pyongyang in 2022 in complete defiance of the United Nations (UN) sanctions.

North Korea had paused its long-range and nuclear tests, such as the one conducted on Thursday, after Kim Jong Un had met former US president Donald Trump. However, diplomacy between the two countries collapsed in 2019.

'An Unacceptable Act of Violence': Japan PM

Meanwhile, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called North Korea's missile launch an "unacceptable act of violence".

"This is such an outrageous, unforgivable act," Kishida, who is currently in Brussels and is scheduled to meet with members of the Group of Seven, said.

He added that North Korea was threatening "the peace and safety of Japan, the region and the international community." "This cannot be accepted."

The White House also 'strongly condemned' North Korea's missile launch that "needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilising the security situation in the region", AFP reported.

"This action demonstrates that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) continues to prioritise its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs over the well-being of its people," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said that Thursday's launch was a "breach of the suspension of intercontinental ballistic missile launches promised by Chairman Kim Jong-un to the international community."

"It poses a serious threat to the Korean peninsula, the region and the international community," Moon said.

He also said that the launch was a "clear violation" of UN Security Council resolutions.

Background

On Wednesday, 16 March, an aid to the South Korean military stated that North Korea fired an "unknown projectile", which failed immediately after the launch.

Experts say the government led by Kim Jong-un wants to boost its ICBM capability, and at the same time, send its first spy satellite into orbit.

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has vowed to improve his country's ICBM capability, and deal with what he calls 'American hostility'.

The US claims that these tests were experimental and part of a new ICBM that Kim Jong-un wants to develop.

(With inputs from AFP & Reuters.)