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| President Moon Jae-in speaks during a National Security Council meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday, following North Korea's launch of an inter-continental ballistic missile earlier in the day. Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae |
North Korea fires what appears to be an ICBM, violating 2018 moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests
By Jung Da-min
President Moon Jae-in condemned North Korea for test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Thursday, calling it a violation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.
Presiding over an emergency National Security Council (NSC) meeting shortly after the incident, Moon said North Korea's ICBM launch poses a grave security threat to the East Asian region, including the Korean Peninsula, as well as the international community, and is also a violation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
He added that North Korea's ICBM launch has posed a grave security threat to the international community as it came amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Moon's strongly-worded condemnation came as the latest North Korean provocation constitutes a crossing of the so-called "red line" set by South Korea. In a speech in 2017, the South Korean leader defined the red line as the North's completion of an ICBM along with the capabilities to put a nuclear warhead on it.
Thursday's test-firing of the ICBM was North Korea's 12th missile launch so far this year.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korea fired the ICBM around the Sunan district of Pyongyang and the missile was detected at around 2:34 p.m. The ICBM traveled about 1,080 kilometers after rising to a height of over 6,200 kilometers.
Japan's Ministry of Defense said the missile is presumed to have fallen into the ocean at around 3: 44 p.m. some 170 kilometers west of Cape Tappi in Aomori Prefecture, inside Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
An official at South Korea's JCS said later that the missile flew for about 70 minutes.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries are currently analyzing details of the latest ICBM and they reportedly believe the latest missile may have been different than the Hwasong-17 Pyongyang test-fired on Feb. 27, March 5 and March 16 of this year.
Meanwhile, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's transition team lashed out at the North for the fresh provocation.
Sharing the view that Thursday's ICBM launch is a violation of North Korea's self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missiles, the transition team called on the Moon administration to work closely with the U.S. government and the rest of the world to react appropriately to the provocation.
The transition team also urged the UNSC to meet to discuss North Korea's provocation and come up with necessary measures.
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| People watch the news on TV at Seoul Station, Thursday, showing North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. The North fired the missile toward the East Sea earlier in the day. Yonhap |
The U.S. and South Korea confirmed on March 11 that North Korea's missile launches on Feb. 27 and March 5 involved the Hwasong-17 ICBM, which Pyongyang had unveiled in a military parade on Oct. 10, 2020.
But the North's March 16 test of another Hwasong-17 turned out to be a failure, with the ICBM exploding in the air.
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