Seoul: North Korean missile explodes mid-air in failed launch

AP

Seoul, March 16

A North Korean missile fired from its capital region exploded in mid-air in an apparent failed launch on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, amid speculation that the North could soon launch its biggest long-range missile in its most significant provocation in years.

Details of the missile explosion weren't immediately known. But the launch, the 10th of its kind this year, shows North Korea is determined to press ahead on its push to modernize its weapons arsenal and pressure its rivals into making concessions amid dormant denuclearization talks.

The North Korean missile blew up while it was flying at an altitude of about 20 kilometres (12.4 miles), a South Korean military official said requesting anonymity because he wasn't publicly authorized to speak to media on the issue. He said the cause of the explosion wasn't known.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier said in a statement that the launch made from the Pyongyang region around 9.30 am apparently failed. It said South Korean and US intelligence authorities were analyzing details of the launch.

The US Indo-Pacific Command later said that North Korea fired a ballistic missile but didn't say whether it was a failed launch. A command statement said the launch didn't pose an immediate threat to US territory and its allies but called on North Korea to refrain from further destabilizing acts.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that a flight of a ballistic missile has not been confirmed and that Tokyo is working with Washington and Seoul to further analyze what happened.

Experts say past failures still have moved North Korea closer to its goal of acquiring a viable nuclear arsenal that could threaten the American homeland.

The US and South Korean militaries said last week that North Korea had tested an ICBM system in two recent launches, referring to the developmental Hwasong-17 missile that North Korea unveiled during a military parade in October 2020.

In the two recent launches on February 27 and March 5, the North Korean missiles flew medium-range distances, and experts have said North Korea could eventually perform a full-range ICBM test.

The North has said it tested cameras and other systems for a spy satellite and released what it said were photos taken from space during one of the two tests, but it didn't confirm what rocket or missile it launched.

Observers say North Korea aims to boost its ICBM capability while trying to place its first functioning spy satellite into orbit. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has vowed to acquire an improved ICBM and a spy satellite among an array of sophisticated weapons systems. He says his country needs to cope with what he calls American hostility.

The Hwasong-17 is North Korea's biggest missile, which could potentially fly up to 15,000 kilometres (9,320 miles), far enough to strike anywhere in the US and beyond and the 25-metre (82-foot) missile, which was shown again at a defense exhibition in Pyongyang last year, are yet to be test-launched.

North Korea will likely call its potential new ICBM test a rocket launch to place a reconnaissance satellite in space, not a weapons test. That could invite condemnation but likely no fresh UN sanctions, some analysts say, since Russia and China wield vetoes on the Security Council and would oppose it.

US-led diplomacy aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear program collapsed in 2019 due to wrangling over US-led sanctions on the North. Washington has urged North Korea to return to talks without any preconditions, but Pyongyang has rejected such overtures saying the United States must first withdraw its hostile policies.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said Friday it detected signs that North Korea likely is restoring some of the tunnels at its nuclear testing site that it detonated ahead of the now-dormant nuclear diplomacy.

The US Treasury Department last week announced new sanctions against three Russian-based entities that aided ongoing development of North Korea's military capabilities and two individuals tied to those companies. The sanctions block access to any US assets held by them.

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