North Korea may have tested an ICBM, according to its neighbors Japan and South Korea. The Japanese news agency Kyodo quoted Deputy Defense Minister Makoto Oniki as saying that it had reached an altitude of up to 6,000 kilometers after taking off towards the sea. It was therefore possibly a new type of ICBM. Apparently she was shot almost vertically.
South Korea also assumed a long-range military missile. The test apparently represents a breach by North Korea of its self-imposed ban on testing long-range missiles, President Moon Jae-in said at an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, according to his office. Moon condemned North Korea’s actions.
Initially, both countries had only announced that a rocket had started from the east coast and flown towards the sea. According to the Yonhap news agency, the South Korean general staff said a long-range ballistic missile had been fired.
North Korea has already tested an unusually large number of missiles this year, raising fears that the internationally isolated country could also resume testing its ICBMs. These were last fired in 2017. With the tests, North Korea is violating UN resolutions that prohibit the country from testing any ballistic missiles. These are usually surface-to-surface missiles that, depending on the design, can also be equipped with one or more nuclear warheads. The regime in Pyongyang has been pushing ahead with their development for years. North Korea is therefore subject to tough international sanctions.
The United States and South Korea assume that the self-declared nuclear power also undertook a test in late February and early March that was related to Pyongyang’s work on a new type of ICBM. North Korea itself spoke of important tests in the development of an earth observation satellite. Experts therefore expected that the country could soon launch a “space rocket”. Space missiles and long-range military missiles are largely based on the same technology.