North Korea says it test-fired a tactical ballistic missile Monday. Seoul and Tokyo separately detected multiple missile launches.
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said it test-fired a tactical ballistic missile on Monday to confirm a technical upgrade to an important component of its weapons systems, state media reported Tuesday. The Korean Central News Agency said the country’s Missile Administration carried out the test and called the result a big success that signals a change in the performance and sophistication of its offensive weapons. The brief report did not name the component or the missile model.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected multiple ballistic missiles launched from the Pyongyang area on an eastward path toward the sea between Korea and Japan. One type flew more than 559 miles (900 kilometers), and South Korean and U.S. authorities said they were analyzing the missiles’ specifications. Japan’s Defense Ministry said it detected at least two missiles, one that flew roughly 137 miles (220 kilometers) and another that flew more than 565 miles (910 kilometers) and may have followed an irregular trajectory. U.S. forces in the Pacific confirmed two ballistic missiles were launched and said the launches posed no immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory or allies.
Shin Jong-woo of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, a research group, identified the missile in North Korea’s released photographs as a Hwasong-11Da carrying a 2.5-ton warhead, Yonhap reported. UPI said the missile is believed to be a variant of the KN-23, which resembles Russia’s Iskander-M. South Korea’s military has not confirmed the model, and North Korea’s claims about the upgrade and the warhead have not been independently verified.
South Korea’s military described the launches as a protest against its first successful test of a domestically developed hypersonic glide vehicle, which President Lee Jae Myung observed on Thursday. It also called them a show of North Korea’s achievements under its five-year defense plan and a deliberate display of missile capability. The launches were North Korea’s 16th ballistic launch this year, according to Yonhap. On Oct. 3, North Korea said it tested a missile it described as able to maneuver in flight to evade defenses, and South Korea said that missile flew more than 430 miles (700 kilometers).
Song Seong-jong, a professor at Daejeon University and a former South Korean Defense Ministry official, told Reuters the unusually frequent tests appeared aimed at increasing leverage ahead of a potential summit between Kim and President Donald Trump. Tensions have also been high since a land mine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone on Sept. 21 injured three South Korean soldiers, and Seoul’s military accused North Korea of laying the mines. United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from conducting ballistic missile tests.
This report draws on information from Yonhap News Agency via The Korea Herald, UPI, Reuters via U.S. News, the Washington Times, Euronews and North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency.