Seoul: North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile that exploded mid-air shortly after launch, Seoul said Wednesday, with analysts warning it was likely a failed test of Pyongyang’s so-called “monster missile”.
The launch — North Korea’s tenth suspected weapons test this year — comes after the United States said the nuclear-armed country was preparing to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) “at full rangeR21; for the first time since 2017.
Despite biting international sanctions over its weapons programmes, Pyongyang conducted seven missile tests in January and twice launched components of what it claimed was a “reconnaissance satellite”.
South Korea and the US said last week those tests were actually of a new ICBM system that has never been launched before — likely the Hwasong-17, dubbed a “monster missile” by analysts after it was first unveiled at a parade in October 2020.
The suspected ballistic missile “seems to have exploded in midair shortly after launch,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP.
The launch was from the Sunan area in Pyongyang around 09:30 am (1230 GMT), they said — the same site as the February 27 and March 5 “satellite” tests.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has long coveted an ICBM that can carry multiple warheads, and the US said last week the recent tests marked a “serious escalation” of the country’s weapons programmes.
But the specialist NK News site reported that the Wednesday launch ended in “catastrophic failure” with a red-tinged ball of smoke zigzagging across the sky as debris fell near the capital.
The US military this week said it had “enhanced” missile defence systems in South Korea.
