North Korea fired a suspected long-range ballistic missile towards the sea off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, a day after Seoul reported the North was making preparations to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The launch, at a sharply raised angle, was from an area near the North’s capital, Pyongyang, at 7:10 a.m. (2210 GMT), the Joint Chiefs said in a statement. It did not confirm whether the missile had dropped.
“It is believed the North Korea ballistic missile is a long-range ballistic missile fired at a high angle,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Japan’s Coast Guard also reported that North Korea had fired what could be a ballistic missile.
The latest missile launch comes as North Korea has come under international condemnation for reportedly dispatching 11,000 troops to Russia for deployment in the war in Ukraine, with 3,000 of them already moved close to the frontlines.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun condemned the deployment at a meeting in Washington on Wednesday, warning that it has the potential to lengthen the already 2-1/2 year Ukraine conflict and draw in others.
North Korea has conducted a series of ICBM test launches at a sharply steep trajectory in recent years, partly for safety and to avoid the political fallout of sending a missile far into the Pacific. Thursday’s launch is believed to be another such high-angle test.
The latest provocation by North Korea has drawn swift condemnation from the international community. The United States, South Korea, and their allies continue to monitor the situation and coordinate their response to Pyongyang’s destabilizing actions.
