JCS Maintains "Overwhelming Response Posture" to North Korea's Hwasong-18 Provocation

Director Lee Seong-jun "Sharing Situational Updates Between Korea and the US on Hwaseong-18 and Others"

The military stated on the 13th that it is maintaining a readiness posture to respond overwhelmingly to North Korea's launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) 'Hwaseong-18' the previous day.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lee Seong-jun, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the Ministry of National Defense's regular briefing that "immediately after North Korea's ballistic missile launch, we closely shared the situation through a South Korea-U.S. coordination meeting," and "we confirmed that we will further strengthen the combined defense posture against any threats and provocations from North Korea."

Regarding concerns that North Korea might carry out additional provocations ahead of the 'Victory Day' (Armistice Agreement Day) on the 27th, he emphasized, "We are maintaining a firm readiness posture based on the capability to respond overwhelmingly to any provocations from North Korea," and "we will realize peace through strength based on the overwhelming power of the alliance."

On the possibility that North Korea did not load a warhead to increase the missile's range during the launch, he was cautious, stating, "South Korea and the U.S. are currently analyzing whether there was a warhead."

Korean Central News Agency reported that the missile launched the previous day ascended to a maximum apogee of 6,648.4 km, flew 1,001.2 km for 4,491 seconds (74 minutes and 51 seconds), and accurately landed in the target area in the East Sea's international waters. The flight time of 74 minutes surpassed the previous longest flight time of a North Korean missile, which was 71 minutes, launched on March 24 last year.

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