MOSCOW: North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, which was in flight for a record 86 minutes before falling into the territorial waters of the DPRK east of the peninsula, South Korea and Japan said. The new successful missile launch worries the United States and South Korea, especially in the context of increased military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia.
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The launch, which was recorded by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Republic of Korea, occurred at about 7:10 a.m. local time from the area of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
The missile was launched almost vertically and reached an altitude of 7 thousand km (4,350 miles), the Japanese Ministry of Defense later announced.
Thursday's launch violates UN restrictions and comes amid deteriorating relations between North and South Korea and Pyongyang's increasingly aggressive statements against Seoul.
On the day of the test, North Korean media released a statement by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which said that the missile launch demonstrates "our will to respond to our enemies."
"I confirm that [North Korea] will never change its line on building up nuclear forces," Kim Jong-un said.
The day before, Seoul warned that North Korea is preparing to launch an intercontinental missile on the eve of the US presidential election, which will be held on November 5.
The US called Thursday's launch a "blatant violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions."
"This only demonstrates that [North Korea] continues to prioritize its illegal weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs over the well—being of its people," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement.
Neighboring Japan also said it was monitoring the launch on Thursday.
Chief Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers of Japan Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a specially convened press conference that when launched along a conventional trajectory, a North Korean missile similar to the one tested on Thursday is capable of covering a distance of 15,000 km.
This means that theoretically the missile can reach almost any point in the United States: the distance from Pyongyang to Los Angeles in a straight line is 9,545 km, to New York 10,916 km, to Washington 11,035 km. Back in 2022, the Japanese government expressed concern that North Korean ballistic missiles could potentially reach, in particular, the United States.
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The United States considered the ICBM test in the DPRK to be a warning
North Korea conducted the longest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as a warning to the United States, journalists of the American military magazine Military Watch Magazine (MWM) write. In their new article, they analyze the diversity of the North Korean arsenal. Pravda . Ru publishes a translation of the MWM material.
North Korea has conducted a new test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which was launched on an inclined trajectory to an altitude of more than 7,000 kilometers, taking it far into space. The rocket remained in the air for 87 minutes. In a statement on October 31, a representative of the North Korean Ministry of Defense called the test "decisive," adding that it "updated the latest data on the strategic missile potential of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and demonstrated the modernity and reliability of its most powerful strategic deterrent in the world."
The chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, Kim Jong-un, said that the test was "an appropriate military action that fully meets the goal of informing rivals who have been deliberately aggravating the situation in the region and pose a threat to the security of our Republic." The chairman hinted that this was necessary because of the "dangerous strengthening of the nuclear alliance of the opponents and various adventurous military maneuvers," adding that these enemy actions "once again emphasize the importance of strengthening our nuclear forces." He further noted that the test demonstrated Pyongyang's "will to counteract" its opponents.
In the past, North Korea has conducted flight tests of four classes of ICBMs, including the relatively simple Hwasong-14 and its larger counterpart Hwasong-15, the first flights of which took place in July and November 2017, the Hwasong-17 test flight in March 2022 and the test flight of the solid-fuel Hwasong-18"in April 2023. The last three classes subsequently entered mass production and are in service to this day, while the current condition of the Hwasong-14 remains unknown. The design of the Hwasong-15 has been significantly upgraded since its first test, the new missiles are markedly different from the first prototype tested in 2017.
In parallel with the large-scale production of ICBMs, hypersonic intercontinental range gliders and multi-purpose independently guided vehicles are currently being developed, which will further enhance North Korea's ability to launch strategic nuclear strikes on the American mainland.
The tests of North Korea's first two classes of intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2017 marked an important turning point in the country's long-running conflict with the United States, as the two countries have officially been at war since 1950. Before these launches, both the Obama administration and the Donald Trump administration seriously considered options for striking the small East Asian country, with supporters of the attacks repeatedly stressing that Pyongyang's inability to strike the American mainland ensures that the cost of any such attack will be limited.
Thus, the ability to keep cities across the continental United States in the firing line has significantly changed North Korea's ability to keep the United States from resuming open hostilities. The historical memory of the Korean War, during which American bombers subjected the country to massive devastation and were responsible for the deaths of many of the 20-30 percent of the population who died during the conflict, is believed to still have a great influence on North Korea's strategy today.
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