PYONGYANG: North Korea Monday launched another long-range ballistic missile with a potential capability of striking the United States, officials in Seoul and Tokyo said.
The latest launch also extended a record-breaking number of weapons tests in 2023 that have been condemned by the West.
The firing followed a shorter-range missile test on Sunday night, with the back-to-back launches coming immediately in another bout of fear-mongering rhetoric between North Korea and the US-South Korean allies.
South Korea’s military said it detected the launch of a long-range ballistic missile from the Pyongyang area on Monday that flew 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) before coming down in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.
South Korea reported the missile flew up rather than across, a method the country has previously said it employs in some weapons tests to avoid flying over neighbouring countries.
Defence ministry of Japan said it was an ICBM-class missile with a potential range covering all of the United States.
“The ICBM-class ballistic missile launched this time, if calculated based on the trajectory, depending on weight of warhead, could have a flying range of over 15,000 kilometres (9,320 miles),” said Shingo Miyake, parliamentary vice-minister of defence.
“In which case the whole of the US territory would be within the range.”
The United Nations Security Council has adopted many resolutions calling on North Korea to stop its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes since it first conducted a nuclear test in 2006. The US State Department also released a statement condemning the test.
