On Wednesday, North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan in its first weapons test in more than three months.
The test comes just days after Pyongyang threatened to shoot down US spy planes that allegedly violated its airspace.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest levels ever, with diplomacy stalled and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un calling for more weapons development, including tactical nuclear weapons.
In response, Seoul and Washington stepped up security cooperation, pledging that Pyongyang would face a nuclear retaliation and the “end” of its current government if it ever used its nuclear weapons against its allies.
The South Korean military said it had detected the launch of a long-range ballistic missile fired from the Pyongyang area around 10:00 (01:00 GMT).
“The ballistic missile was launched on a ground trajectory and flew 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) before splashing down in the East Sea,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
The elevated trajectory involves launching the missile upward rather than outward, a technique Pyongyang has previously said it uses in some weapons tests to avoid flying over neighboring countries.
The launch “is a serious provocation that harms peace and security on the Korean Peninsula” and violates UN sanctions on Pyongyang, the JCS said in a statement, urging North Korea to stop such actions.
Pyongyang last fired one of its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles in April, supposedly the solid-fueled Hwaseong-18, and in February launched the Hwaseong-15, which flew 989 kilometers.
The flight time of around 70 minutes is also similar to some of North Korea’s previous ICBM launches, experts say.
“Given what we have at the moment, it’s about 90% certain that it was an ICBM launch,” Choi Gi-il, professor of military studies at Sanji University, told AFP.
He added that it could also be an attempt by North Korea to retest its satellite launch technology to prepare for another attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit after a failed launch in May.
“Provocative” US actions
Wednesday’s launch comes after North Korea on Monday accused a US spy plane of violating its airspace and denounced Washington’s plans to deploy a nuclear-powered missile submarine near the Korean Peninsula.
A spokesman for the North Korean Ministry of National Defense said the United States has “intensified espionage activities beyond wartime levels,” citing “provocative” spy plane flights for eight consecutive days this month.
“There is no guarantee that such a shocking accident as the downing of a US Air Force strategic reconnaissance aircraft will not occur in the East Sea,” the spokesman added.
According to a separate statement, Kim’s influential sister Kim Yo-jong said a US spy plane violated the country’s eastern airspace twice on Monday morning.
Kim Yo-jong said North Korea would not directly respond to US intelligence activities outside the country’s exclusive economic zone, but warned that it would take “strong action” if its maritime military demarcation line was crossed.
The United States said in April that one of its nuclear-powered ballistic submarines would visit a South Korean port for the first time in decades, without giving an exact date.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol responded by expanding defense cooperation with Washington by holding joint military exercises using modern stealth aircraft and long-range heavy bombers.
Yoon is set to attend a NATO summit in Lithuania this week, seeking to work more closely with members of the alliance in the face of growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
“Kim Yo-jong’s bellicose statement against US spy planes is part of North Korea’s model of inflating external threats to mobilize domestic support and justify weapons testing,” said Leif-Erik Isley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“Pyongyang is also counting its shows of force to disrupt what it perceives as diplomatic coordination against it, in this case, a meeting between the leaders of South Korea and Japan during a NATO summit.”
