Military: "North Korea fires one long-range projectile into East Sea"... Possible ICBM

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] North Korea launched one ballistic missile, estimated to be long-range, into the East Sea on the 18th.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that at around 5:22 p.m. on the same day, they detected one missile, presumed to be a long-range ballistic missile, launched from the Sunan area in Pyongyang toward the East Sea. This ballistic missile launch marks North Korea's second provocation this year, occurring 49 days after firing a super-large multiple rocket launcher on New Year's Day.

North Korea's ballistic missile launch on this day is interpreted as a response to the U.S.-led Security Council meeting. In a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the previous day, North Korea claimed that the U.S. convened a United Nations Security Council meeting related to North Korea, asserting that this shows the Security Council is "reaching an extreme point where the U.S.'s attempt to turn it into an illegal and lawless execution agency for hostile policies against Korea can no longer be tolerated."

They added, "Since the beginning of this year, we have concentrated all our efforts on realizing our own development plans and maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region," and expressed, "Apart from the normal schedule of strengthening defense capabilities that a sovereign state should rightfully undertake, we have refrained from any specific military actions."

Furthermore, this provocation came just two days after the Ministry of National Defense published the '2022 Defense White Paper,' which reinstated the expression that "the North Korean regime and North Korean military are enemies," and is also analyzed as a reaction to this. The Joint Chiefs emphasized, "Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance, maintaining full readiness while closely cooperating between South Korea and the U.S."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.