North Korea fired a suspected long-range ballistic missile toward waters off its east coast, a second volley in less than a day after the U.S. and South Korea held talks on containing Pyongyang’s atomic ambitions.
The missile is likely to splash down in waters west of Japan’s main northern island of Hokkaido at about 9:37 a.m., Japan’s Defense Ministry said. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said no damage has been reported yet from the missile.
The flight time and landing area would be consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile fired on a lofted trajectory. If it turns out to be an ICBM, it would be the fifth North Korea has fired this year.
On Sunday night, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile that flew 570 kilometers (355 miles) before falling into waters off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The launches coincided with talks between the U.S. and South Korea to deepen cooperation in deterring Kim Jong Un from using atomic weapons. The U.S. sent the nuclear-powered USS Missouri attack submarine to the South Korean port of Busan over the weekend, in its latest dispatch of military assets to the region as a part of its deterrence policy.
Before the talks, a top South Korean security official said North Korea may soon test an ICBM, which is designed to deliver a warhead to the US mainland.
North Korea slammed the meeting of the so-called Nuclear Consultative Group, with a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense saying the discussion between the U.S. and South Korea was “an open declaration on nuclear confrontation to make the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK a fait accompli in case of emergency,” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported.
Kim is poised to hold a major policy-setting meeting at the end of the year. By testing ballistic missiles, the North Korean leader can show his top cadres and people that the country’s nuclear arsenal is making great strides in being able to attack the U.S., reinforcing the propaganda message that its expansion is essential to prevent an invasion from American forces.
The latest launches come after North Korea successfully placed a satellite into orbit in late November, moving Kim closer to his key policy goal of deploying an array of reconnaissance probes to keep an eye on U.S. forces in the region.
Before the latest launches, Pyongyang had already fired 28 ballistic missiles and three space rockets so far this year. Kim’s regime launched more than 70 ballistic missiles last year, a record for the state.
Kim has ignored U.S. calls to return to long-stalled nuclear disarmament talks through which Pyongyang could secure economic aid in exchange for disarmament. But he has been busy modernizing his arsenal of missiles and conducting tests of systems to attack South Korea and Japan, which host the bulk of U.S. military personnel in the region.
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(With assistance from Ryotaro Nakamaru.)
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