SEOUL/TOKYO: North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday that Japanese officials said had sufficient range to reach the mainland of the United States and that landed just 200 kilometres (130 miles) off Japan.
The launch, reported by both South Korean and Japanese officials, comes a day after a smaller missile launch by the North and its warning of "fiercer military responses" to the U.S. boosting its regional security presence.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and leaders of Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia and New Zealand condemned the launch at an emergency meeting called on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on Friday.
"We strongly condemn these actions and we again call for North Korea to stop further unlawful, destabilising acts," Harris said during the meeting, convened to discuss the launch.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned of further missile launches by the North and a possible nuclear test, the Japanese government said in a statement.
Harris is in Thailand for the APEC summit, amid heightened geopolitical tensions over the war in Ukraine and other flashpoints such as Taiwan and the Korean peninsula.
Friday's launch adds to a record-breaking year for North Korea's missile programme, after it resumed testing ICBMs for the first time since 2017 and broke its self-imposed moratorium on long-range launches as denuclearisation talks stalled.
"Pyongyang is trying to disrupt international cooperation against it by escalating military tensions and suggesting it has the capability of holding American cities at risk of nuclear attack," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
North Korea's stepped-up development and testing of missiles also indicates that, despite its dire poverty and sanctions by the United Nations as well as the United States and other nations, it has faced few hurdles obtaining the technology and materials it needs for its missile programme.
MILITARY DRILLS
The South Korean military said that, in response to Friday's launch, South Korean F-35A fighters and U.S. F-16 jets flew in formation off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula and conducted a firing drill against targets that simulated North Korea's mobile missile launchers.
Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters on Friday that the missile was capable of flying as far as 15,000 km, while Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said it flew to an altitude of about 6,000 km with a range of 1,000 km, before landing in the sea roughly 200 kilometres west of Oshima-Oshima Island in Hokkaido.
South Korea's military projected that the missile reached an altitude of 6,100 km and flew 1,000 km at a maximum speed of Mach 22.
North Korea often conducts its tests on such "lofted" trajectories where the missile flies much higher into space but to a shorter distance than it would if fired on a normal trajectory.
Misawa Air base, which hosts both Japanese and U.S. troops, briefly issued an order to seek cover, according to a post on the base's Facebook page.
Kishida said there had been no reports of damage but the North's repeated missile launches could not be tolerated.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol condemned the launch and called for stronger defence readiness and security cooperation with the United States and Japan.
North Korea's last suspected ICBM test was on Nov. 3, when it fired multiple missiles into the sea in what it said was a protest against allied military drills by South Korea and the United States.
Friday's launch is the eighth ICBM test this year by North Korea, based on a tally from the U.S. State Department.
ICBMs are North Korea's longest-range weapon and are designed to carry a nuclear warhead as far as any location in the continental United States.
MISSILE LAUNCHES
On Thursday, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile while its foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, warned of "fiercer military responses" to U.S. moves to boost its military presence, saying Washington was taking a "gamble it will regret".
In a statement carried by state media, Choe condemned a Sunday trilateral summit of the United States, South Korea and Japan during which those countries' leaders criticised Pyongyang's weapons tests and pledged greater security cooperation.
During that meeting, U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed to Yoon and Kishida a commitment to reinforce extended deterrence and defend the two Asian allies with a "full range of capabilities", including nuclear weapons.
Yoon, at a National Security Council meeting following Friday's launch, called for additional sanctions against the North and measures to put extended deterrence in place, although he gave no specifics.
Concern has also mounted over the possibility of North Korea conducting a nuclear test for the first time since 2017.
South Korean and U.S. officials have said the North has completed preparations for such a test, expected to be underground and possibly using a smaller nuclear device designed for tactical use.
North Korea's ballistic missile tests are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions that have sanctioned the country over its missile and nuclear weapons programmes.
South Korean and U.S. officials have reported that a number of North Korean ICBM tests appeared to have failed this year, including a Nov. 3 test that appeared to have failed at high altitude.
North Korea on March 24 launched its biggest ICBM ever, which flew 67.5 minutes and reached an altitude of 6,248.5 km (3,905 miles), according to state media.
The North has also fired hundreds of artillery shells into the sea recently as South Korea and the United States staged exercises, some of which involved Japan.
Reuters
Fri Nov 18 2022
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, along with his daughter, walks away from an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in this undated photo released on November 19, 2022 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). - KCNA/via REUTERS
Pelajar tahfiz perlu teroka bidang teknologi
Kira-kira 200,000 pelajar tahfiz di negara ini, perlu dipastikan untuk mempunyai kemampuan dan peluang menjadi tenaga penggerak kepada umat Islam Malaysia dalam meneroka bidang yang dahulu dilihat sebagai asing., tegas Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Perpaduan rakyat prasyarat ekonomi mampan
Tidak semua negara Islam mempunyai ruang dan kesempatan untuk terus aman dan damai, dan mempunyai peluang untuk menikmati ekonomi yang kukuh dan berkembang seperti Malaysia, tegas Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Beliau berkata, rakyat Malaysia perlu mempunyai tekad untuk memahami maksud dan keperluan perpaduan di kalangan mereka, serta kekuatan dalaman yang seterusnya dapat dijadikan tonggak untuk negara membuat langkah seterusnya.
Beliau berkata, rakyat Malaysia perlu mempunyai tekad untuk memahami maksud dan keperluan perpaduan di kalangan mereka, serta kekuatan dalaman yang seterusnya dapat dijadikan tonggak untuk negara membuat langkah seterusnya.
Tidak perlu tergesa-gesa tukar ke lesen B - JPJ
Pemegang Lesen Memandu Malaysia (LMM) Kelas B2 dan B1 tidak perlu tergesa-gesa mendaftar Program Khas Peralihan LLM Kelas B2/B1 Kepada LMM Kelas B kerana tiada had masa ditetapkan untuk permohonan.
KPWKM teruskan lapan inisiatif bantu warga emas
Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat (KPWKM) akan terus menggerakkan lapan inisiatif utama dalam memenuhi keperluan jagaan dan sistem sokongan terhadap warga emas.
Warga emas maut ditikam anak kandung yang berhalusinasi
Seorang pesara guru maut ditikam anak kandungnya sendiri di sebuah rumah dekat Kampung Senaling, di sini, petang Sabtu.
Menurut Ketua Polis Daerah Kuala Pilah, Superintendan Amran Mohd Ghani, siasatan awal mendapati warga emas berusia 65 tahun itu cuba memujuk anak lelakinya yang juga pemegang kad orang kurang upaya (OKU) mental yang dikatakan mahu membunuh diri.
Menurut Ketua Polis Daerah Kuala Pilah, Superintendan Amran Mohd Ghani, siasatan awal mendapati warga emas berusia 65 tahun itu cuba memujuk anak lelakinya yang juga pemegang kad orang kurang upaya (OKU) mental yang dikatakan mahu membunuh diri.
Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Berikut adalah berita yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang Sabtu, 5 Oktober 2024.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Hezbollah lancar serangan peluru berpandu ke atas kompleks industri ketenteraan di utara Israel
Pergerakan Hezbollah di Lubnan berkata mereka telah melancarkan serangan peluru berpandu ke atas kemudahan ATA Defence Industries.
Tiada kaitan dengan pelantikan CEO MDEC, Anuar Fariz bukan adik saya - Fahmi
Menteri Komunikasi Fahmi Fadzil menyangkal dakwaan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif (CEO) baharu Perbadanan Ekonomi Digital Malaysia (MDEC) Anuar Fariz Fadzil merupakan adiknya.
Israel lakukan persiapan untuk serang Iran - Laporan
Tentera Israel sedang bersiap untuk "tindakan balas besar-besaran dan ekstrem" terhadap Iran.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah antara yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Usaha pujuk Korea Utara henti program senjata nuklear gagal - Biden
Rumusan ini dibuat selepas penelitian dasar luar Amerika Syarikat (AS) ke atas Pyongyang.
Mendepani krisis Malaysia-Korea Utara: Teladan kebitaraan diplomasi Melayu
Seiring berjalannya waktu, krisis dengan Korea Utara boleh secara berperingkat diselesaikan menerusi kebitaraan diplomasi Malaysia yang tidak mahu memusuhi mana-mana negara di dunia.
Malaysia tutup pejabat di Pyongyang, semua kakitangan diplomatik Korea Utara diarah pulang
Semua staf diplomatik negara itu yang berada di Kuala Lumpur akan diarahkan untuk meninggalkan Malaysia dalam tempoh 48 jam bermula Jumaat.
Korea Utara sah putuskan hubungan diplomatik dengan Malaysia
Keputusan itu diambil selepas Mahkamah Persekutuan tolak rayuan akhir seorang rakyat Korea Utara terhadap perintah ekstradisi ke atasnya.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini, Ahad, 11 Oktober 2020.
Murid prasekolah Korea Utara kini diwajib ambil subjek cerita kehebatan Kim Jong-un
Pelajar prasekolah di Korea Utara dipaksa untuk mengikuti mata pelajaran Greatness Education yang menceritakan mengenai kehebatan pemimpin negara itu, Kim Jong-un selama 90 minit pada setiap hari.
Korea Utara dakwa bangunkan vaksin COVID-19, bakal laksana fasa 3 ujian klinikal
Saintis di Suruhanjaya Sains dan Teknologi berkata pihaknya telah mengesahkan keselamatan vaksin berkenaan menerusi ujian ke atas haiwan.
Korea Utara sambut ulang tahun ke-26 kematian Kim II Sung
Ribuan rakyat Korea Utara berkumpul sempena ulang tahun ke-26 pemergian bekas pemimpin negara berkenaan, Kim Il-Sung