North Korea launched several ballistic missiles towards the sea off its east coast on Monday morning, South Korea’s military said, with at least one of them travelling more than 900 km. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Seoul said the launch was detected at around 9.20 am local time (5.50 am IST) from the Pyongyang area.
According to international news agency reports, it was North Korea’s fourth launch in a month, and the latest in a run of weapons tests by both Koreas that has pushed tensions on the peninsula higher.
What Seoul and Tokyo tracked
Japan’s Defence Ministry said it picked up two separate launches. The first missile, fired at about 9.19 am, flew roughly 220 km and reached a maximum altitude of around 20 km. The second, launched at about 9.36 am, covered more than 910 km and climbed to around 70 km. Both fell into the Sea of Japan outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, which stretches 200 nautical miles from its coast.
Seoul did not say what kind of missiles were used, though reports said they appeared to be of different types. Asked whether they were hypersonic or intermediate-range weapons, JCS spokesperson Jang Do-young said the military still needed to analyse the flight data before commenting.
A message aimed at Seoul
Initial analysis suggests (Monday’s launch) was seen as a protest against the successful launch of our hypersonic glide vehicle.
Jang Do-young, JCS spokesperson
Jang said the launch also appeared designed to showcase progress under the North’s five-year plan to strengthen its defences and to display its missile capabilities. South Korea’s National Security Office held an emergency meeting, condemned the launches as violations of UN Security Council resolutions and urged Pyongyang to stop immediately.
South Korea carried out its first test of a hypersonic glide vehicle on Thursday, overseen by President Lee Jae Myung. Seoul presented that test as a show of force after a September 21 mine explosion on the southern side of the Demilitarised Zone. A joint investigation with the UN Command concluded that the blast was caused by anti-personnel mines deliberately planted by North Korea, a finding Pyongyang has dismissed as fabricated. Hypersonic weapons fly at five times the speed of sound or faster and can change course unpredictably, which makes them difficult to intercept.
Background and what comes next
On October 3, North Korea fired a single ballistic missile from the Wonsan area. State media said the next day that it was an intermediate-range strategic missile, launched to train troops who operate its “hypersonic strategic weapon system”. Before Monday, the North’s last launch from the Pyongyang area was on August 20.
North Korea has been under UN sanctions since 2006 over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. Leader Kim Jong Un has kept expanding the country’s arsenal of nuclear-capable systems while rejecting US and South Korean offers to restart long-frozen talks. After the October 3 test, North Korean state media published its own account a day later; South Korea’s military said it is still studying Monday’s launches to identify the weapons involved.
