North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Monday that has a range to hit anywhere in the United States, said South Korea and Japan.
It was the second launch in hours as Pyongyang condemned a US-led show of force as “war” moves.
The missile has a potential to travel more than 15,000km (9,300 miles), meaning it can reach anywhere in Japan and the mainland United States, Japan’s parliamentary vice minister of defence Shingo Miyake said.
Monday’s missile was fired from an area near the capital Pyongyang towards the sea off the North’s east coast and flew about 1,000km, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Japan’s defence ministry reported the flight lasted 73 minutes, just short of the 74 minute flight by an ICBM North Korea fired in July. It reached a maximum altitude of more than 6,000km and fell into the sea west of Hokkaido outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Japan said.
South Korea’s National Security Council said it was a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), labelling the launch a destabilising act that ignored international warnings and multiple UN Security Council resolutions.
The area near the international airport serving Pyongyang is where the North previously launched ICBMs and is suspected to be the location of a missile assembly facility.
Monday’s missile launch came after North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday night, flying about 570km and falling into the ocean.
North Korea followed up that launch with a fiery statement condemning the United States for orchestrating what it called a “preview of a nuclear war,” including the arrival of a nuclear-powered submarine in South Korea on Sunday.
Coinciding with the North’s fifth ICBM launch of the year, China and North Korea held a high-level meeting in Beijing on Monday. Beijing, which is Pyongyang’s closest ally, reaffirmed a commitment to deepen co-operation and said discussions covered issues of “common concern”, without elaborating.
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China supported all resolutions imposing sanctions on the North up to 2017 for its weapons development, but has since refused to back further sanctions saying these would only raise tensions. – Reuters