North Korea launches new missile capable of hitting US

Launches are multiplying. North Korea on Monday launched a long-range ballistic missile potentially capable of hitting the United States, Seoul and Tokyo announced, just hours after another overnight launch of a short-range missile. The two back-to-back launches came days after warnings from Seoul and Washington, which warned Pyongyang that “any nuclear attack” against the United States or its allies would lead to the end of the regime of Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader.

The South Korean army said it detected a long-range ballistic missile launched from the Pyongyang area on Monday, estimated to have traveled 1,000 km before falling into the Sea of ​​Japan. Tokyo said it was likely an intercontinental ballistic missile. According to Deputy Parliamentary Defense Minister Shingo Miyake, this type of projectile “could fly more than 15,000 km, and in this case the entire US territory would be within its reach.”

Altitude 6000 km

Its flight lasted 1 hour 13 minutes, the maximum altitude was more than 6000 km. And at about 9:37 am Japan time (1:37 am Paris time), the missile fell into the sea outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), 250 km northwest of the small island of Okushiri, which neighbors the island of Hokkaido (north ). countries), said Shingo Miyake.

Faced with this, South Korea “strongly condemns” its northern neighbor, which “poses a serious threat to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and the international community” with this launch, the South Korean president stressed in a press release issued after the emergency. meeting of the National Security Council.

The same story with Japan and the USA. “These launches, like Pyongyang’s other ballistic missile launches this year, constitute violations of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” a US State Department spokesman said in a statement. “We strongly condemn” the shootings, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, saying they posed a “threat to peace and stability in the region.”

North Korea has already conducted four intercontinental ballistic missile tests this year, the most recent of which, the Hwasong-18, dates back to July. This solid-fuel rocket, already tested in April last year, is distinguished by the fact that it is easier to transport and faster to launch than liquid-fuel versions. A spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it was analyzing whether Monday’s launch was a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile.

The United States and South Korea took part in the second meeting of the Nuclear Advisory Group in Washington on Friday, focusing on nuclear deterrence in the event of a conflict with the North. It was on this occasion that the White House warned that any nuclear attack by Pyongyang would end the regime. This Sunday, a North Korean defense official denounced the allies’ plan to add nuclear exercises next year to their annual joint military exercises, threatening a “preemptive and lethal counter-offensive.”

“Irreversible” nuclear energy

“This is an open statement of nuclear confrontation aimed at making the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK a fait accompli,” the ministry said in a statement published by North Korea’s official news agency, KCNA Korea. “Any attempt to use military force against the DPRK will be met with a preemptive and lethal response,” the statement added, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

Sunday’s short-range missile launch came as Pyongyang marked the anniversary of the death of leader Kim Jong Un’s father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, who died on December 17, 2011. Last year, North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and has said so repeatedly. will never give up its nuclear program, which the regime considers necessary for its survival.

Last month, North Korea succeeded in launching its first spy satellite, Mulligyong-1, into orbit after two failures in May and August. The West, Japan and South Korea condemned the launch, as did UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, believing that the use of ballistic missile technology violates UN Security Council resolutions.