North Korea has fired what neighboring countries said appeared to be an multinational ballistic bullet(ICBM), a day after launching a lower bullet and warning of “fiercer military responses” to the United States boosting its security presence in the region.
Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada said the weapon, which reached an altitude of 6,000km (3,730 miles), was capable of traveling as far as 15,000km (9,320 miles), giving it the range to reach the mainland of the United States.
The test missile traveled 1,000km (622 miles) on a lofted trajectory, and landed about 200km (124 miles) west of Oshima-Oshima island in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido, according to Japanese officials.
“We naturally lodged a strong kick against North Korea, which has repeated its provocations with unknown frequency,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told journalists in Thailand, where he’s attending the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation peak meeting. His reflections were televised live in Japan.
“We’ve told(Pyongyang) that we absolutely can not tolerate similar conduct.”
South Korea’s defence ministry also described the bullet as a probable ICBM, which is designed to carry a nuclear warhead.
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On Thursday, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic bullet as its foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, advised of “fiercer military responses” to US moves to boost its military presence in the region, saying Washington was taking an “adventure it’ll lament”.
In a statement carried by state media, Choe condemned a Sunday trilateral peak of Japan, South Korea, and the US during which the countries’ leaders criticised Pyongyang’s munitions tests and pledged lesser security cooperation.
North Korea has carried out an unknown number of ballistic bullet tests, which are banned under United Nations judgments assessed over Pyongyang’s bullet and nuclear munitions programmes, and there are enterprises it may soon carry out its first nuclear test since 2017.
Leif- Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told Al Jazeera that further countries demanded to hold the North responsible for its conduct, noting the country was “developing illegal nuclear munitions and dumdums, conniving long-term struggle against its neighbor, and egregiously abusing mortal rights.”
Read More: US, Japan, South Korea warn Pyongyang against nuclear test
“Its leper state geste isn’t just a problem for Washington and its abettors but a growing global trouble,” Easley said in a dispatch.
After a meeting, last week on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Cambodia, leaders of Japan, South Korea, and the US advised Pyongyang against conducting such a test, with US President Joe Biden reiterating that Washington’s commitment to defend Seoul and Tokyo was “backed by the full range of capabilities, including nuclear”.
The leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol also “explosively condemned” North Korea’s “unknown number of ballistic bullet launches” and pledged to “forge still- near trilateral links, in the security realm and beyond”.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA, REUTERS
