North Korea fires record-long ICBM, deepens regional tensions and global concerns. In a brazen shot in deteriorating inter-Korean relations, North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that flew for 86 minutes before splashing into waters off its east coast, South Korean and Japanese reports said. The missile traveled over 1,000 kilometers at an altitude of 7,000 km (4,350 miles), the latest in enhanced North Korean missile capabilities, with the trajectory suggesting it could go even farther if launched horizontally.
The Thursday launch is accompanied by a rhetoric intensification in North Korea towards Seoul, while also being launched in time when the U.S. presidential election will be held soon, amid warnings by South Korea for the potential provocations that can occur at the same period. South Korean Ministry of Defense says the missile test appears to have been tailored for maximum range and altitude lift for increasing its payload capability and potentially carry multiple or even heavier warheads.
South Korea is set to introduce new sanctions against North Korea, while the U.S. described the launch as a “flagrant violation” of United Nations Security Council resolutions. According to the White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett, North Korea would rather pursue its missile and nuclear ambitions than look after their citizens.
This test is comparable to the ICBM Pyongyang tested in December 2023, which flew for 73 minutes and went a distance of about 1,000 kilometers. However, experts such as lecturer Kim Dong-yup of the University of North Korean Studies noted that the current test went further and lasted longer than the previous one, hence showing improvement in North Korea’s strategic missile program. According to Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong Un, the test was a “necessary military action” and the country remained committed to expanding its nuclear forces.
After the test, South Korean and US officials made an emergency decision and pledged to take “strong and varied” measures to respond to the event, in addition to strengthening security cooperation with Japan in the region.
This latest missile test is another development in the widely reported military aid that North Korea allegedly provides to Russia, which U.S. intelligence claims has an estimated 10,000 North Korean troops stationed in eastern Russia and a smaller contingent near Kursk in the west. The reports of North Korean troops reportedly sent to Russia have kept the world on high alert over the increasing relationship between Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin, driving regional tensions even higher.