North Korea’s rocket launch has been branded a “clear violation” of UN Security Council resolutions by South Korea’s deputy national security adviser, as Seoul responded to the provocation by firing multiple missiles, its military said. 

Japan’s coast guard earlier said North Korea launched a projectile which landed inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), 170 km (106 miles) west of Aomori prefecture in northern Japan, at 3.44 pm (6.44am GMT).

The launch by North Korea is thought to be its largest test ever, militaries in South Korea and Japan said.

The South Korean military conducted a live-fire test of multiple ballistic and tactical missiles in what it called an immediate response.

They said they were ready and capable of precision strikes against the location where North Korea launched its missile, if needed.

Missile test is North Korea’s 11th in 2022

The suspected missile launch – North Korea’s 11th of the year – comes after the country had announced a self-imposed moratorium on ICBM testing following two summits between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then US president Donald Trump.

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It would be the first full-capability launch of the nuclear-armed state’s largest missiles since 2017, and represents a major step in the North’s development of weapons.

The White House condemned the latest launch from North Korea and called it a “brazen violation” of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

In a statement, press secretary Jen Psaki added: “This action demonstrates that the DPRK continues to prioritise its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs over the well-being of its people.”

Japanese authorities said the launch by North Korea appeared to be a “new type” of ICBM that flew for about 71 minutes to an altitude of about 6,000km (3,728 miles) and a range of 1,100km (684 miles) from its launch site.

Asia correspondent

This would be North Korea’s 11th missile test this month, most of which have been more or less ignored by the US and the world at large.

But an ICBM is a different beast. To understand why, you only have to think back to the last time North Korea tested one, in 2017.

Then, it felt like we were about to spiral into outright war on the Korean Peninsula, with a public slanging match between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

Almost as quickly, though, we ended up with the historic summit between the two in Singapore, where a diplomatic breakthrough seemed possible, if still unlikely.

After the botched second summit in Hanoi, North Korea remained quiet. Then COVID kept everyone busy, including Kim.

But now he’s definitely making some noise. The question is why now? Some will see this as an attempt to provoke the Biden administration, or at least remind them that they are capable of sending a missile to hit the continental US, while they are distracted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

I’d argue otherwise. If North Korea really wanted to get the US’s attention, it would wait until a missile launch would dominate the news.

Some of North Korea’s considerations are more practical. It has invested a great deal in its nuclear weapons program, essentially sacrificing its economy for it. And it needs to make sure those expensive weapons work by testing them.

Doing so now, while the US is marshalling its diplomatic and economic heft against Russia, means North Korea will not be alone in the spotlight.

The other aspect of the timing is that there is no chance of Russia siding with the US at the United Nations Security Council, as it has done in previous tests. Nor will China do anything to help.

All that means that North Korea can conduct the test at a lesser cost than usual.

That is not to say that North Korea will not be looking and analysing the reaction carefully. South Korea has a newly elected president, Yoon Suk-yeol, who presented himself as more of a hardliner than his dovish predecessor Moon Jae-in. How he reacts will shape the next five years of his tenure.

And the US will respond too. It has apparently tolerated recent tests, even if it has increased its own military footprint in the region as a result.

An ICBM crosses the threshold though.

It’s hard to imagine Biden tweeting fire and fury at Kim. But he’ll have to come up with something. North Korea can’t be ignored forever.

Launch is ‘clear violation’, says South Korea

South Korean deputy national security adviser Suh Choo-suk condemned the launch as “a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions, and a reversal of the moratorium on ICBM launches, which North Korea had promised to the international community”.

According to South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff, the latest North Korean missile was launched from near Sunan, where Pyongyang’s international airport is located.

Earlier this month, analysis of satellite images suggested that construction activity at North Korea’s nuclear testing ground had resumed, nearly four years after leader Kim Jong Un declared the facility had been closed.

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