North Korea Fires ICBM, South Korea Launches Missiles from Air, Land, Sea

Shortly after reports emerged that North Korea had tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) since November 2017, South Korea said it conducted a missile test of its own, firing at a target from land, air and sea.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff announced Thursday that a missile launched from North Korea's western Sunan district near the capital Pyongyang into the Sea of Japan, known to both Koreas as the East Sea, appeared to have been an ICBM, classified as a missile with a range of over 5,500 kilometers, or around 3,418 miles.

The missile in question was said to have achieved a range of about 1,080 kilometers, or roughly 670 miles, and an altitude of 6,200 kilometers, or about 3,852 miles.

The top military body of South Korea, officially called the Republic of Korea (ROK), then revealed that its own forces immediately conducted a joint exercise involving a Hyunmoo-II and MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) surface-to-surface ballistic missile as well as a ship-launched Haeseong II cruise missile and two air-launched Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) missiles.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said the "ROK military is closely watching North Korea's military movements" and that "it was confirmed" that, in the case of a North Korean missile launch, South Korea forces "have the ability and posture to precisely strike the origin of the missile launch and command and support facilities at any time."

The statement also condemned its rival's actions as a "serious challenge to the ROK and ROK-US alliance," while North Korea is "refusing to offer dialogue to the international community."

South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Won In-choul also met virtually with U.S. Army General Paul LaCamera, head of the United Nations Command, the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea to discuss the issue.

The Japanese Defense Ministry also reported on North Korea's launch and provided similar range and altitude estimate for the missile, which was said to have landed within Japan's exclusive economic zone around 150 kilometers, or about 93 miles, west of the Oshima Peninsula in Hokkaido province. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio condemned the move as an "outrage that cannot be forgiven."

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price also issued a statement decrying the move by North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"The United States condemns the DPRK's ballistic missile launch," Price said. "Like the DPRK's other escalatory tests this year, including at least two intercontinental ballistic missiles, this launch is a clear violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, and demonstrates the threat the DPRK's unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs pose to the DPRK's neighbors and the region as a whole."

He reiterated President Joe Biden 's position on calling on North Korea to curb such actions, while at the same time seeking dialogue with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un .

"We stand with the international community to call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and engage in sustained and substantive dialogue," Price said.

Pyongyang has so far rebuffed attempts by Washington to make contact, arguing that the U.S. should first reverse its "hostile" policy in the form of strict sanctions and military exercises with the likes of allies South Korea and Japan.

"Our commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad," Price said. "We have been and will continue to coordinate closely with our allies and partners to address the threats posed by the DPRK, and to advance our shared objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

Earlier this month, a senior Biden administration official had warned that two recent North Korean satellite system tests used ICBM-capable platforms and marked a likely preparation for such a launch.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki referenced these indications in a statement Thursday, and said that "the President and his national security team are assessing the situation in close coordination with our allies and partners."

"This launch is a brazen violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region," Psaki said. "This action demonstrates that the DPRK continues to prioritize its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs over the well-being of its people."

"We urge all countries to hold the DPRK accountable for such violations and call on the DPRK to come to the table for serious negotiations," she added. "The door has not closed on diplomacy, but Pyongyang must immediately cease its destabilizing actions. The United States will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and Republic of Korea and Japanese allies."

North Korea's state-run media later confirmed the launch, broadcasting images of Kim overseeing the firing of what was said to be the Hwasong-17 missile, larger than previous ICBMs and previewed during an October 2020 military parade and October 2021 weapons expo.

The reports gave a near-identical range and altitude estimate as South Korea and Japan, adding that the test "was carried out in a vertical launch mode in consideration of the security of neighboring countries."

"The new type weapon system to be operated by the strategic forces of the DPRK under a plan for building up the state nuclear force will creditably perform its mission and duty as a powerful nuclear war deterrent of putting under strict control the nuclear war threats and challenges against the DPRK, taking the initiative to cope with any military crisis and defending the security of the country," the official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim was said to have lauded the military and scientific achievements of his nation in successfully carrying out such a test, while issuing a warning to the U.S. specifically.

"He stressed that our national defence forces would possess formidable military and technical capabilities unperturbed by any military threat and blackmail and keep themselves fully ready for long-standing confrontation with the U.S. imperialists," KCNA reported.

"He affirmed that the strategic forces of the DPRK are fully ready to thoroughly curb and contain any dangerous military attempts of the U.S. imperialists," it added.

Kim oversaw his country's first ICBM test in July 2017 and launched two more that year as tensions soared between him and then-President Donald Trump . The following year, however, the North Korean ruler reached out to South Korean President Moon Jae-in for peace talks and then to Trump himself.

As Kim prepared to meet with Moon and Trump for the first time, he announced in April 2018 a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and longer-range missile tests. A number of high-level bilateral meetings geared toward a peace-for-denuclearization agreement ensued, but no deal emerged and, by late 2019, diplomacy began to unravel and tensions soon returned to the Korean Peninsula.

Moon had made a priority of pursuing inter-Korean reconciliation but Kim had accused his administration of failing to sufficiently pursue a policy independent of that of Washington. The South Korean leader is set to leave office in May as his term expires and conservative President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol succeeds him after winning the national election held earlier this month.

Yoon has said he was still open to diplomacy with North Korea, but also sought to build up South Korea's own growing defense capabilities and fortify his nation's alliance with the U.S.