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WASHINGTON – Two recent missile tests conducted by North Korea were of a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system, the Pentagon said yesterday, marking what one United States official called a “serious escalation” that will be punished with fresh sanctions.
According to North Korea, the February 26 and March 4 tests were focused on developing a reconnaissance satellite, but the Pentagon said rigorous analysis concluded they were actually experimental precursors to a likely full-range ICBM launch.
Any such launch would mark the end of a self-imposed moratorium Pyongyang has had in place since 2017 and send military tensions soaring on the Korean peninsula and beyond.
The North has carried out three ICBM tests; the last in November 2017 of a Hwasong-15 – deemed powerful enough to reach Washington and the rest of the continental United States.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the recent two tests “involved a new intercontinental ballistic missile system” that Pyongyang had first showcased at a military parade in October 2020.
While neither launch displayed ICBM range or capability, they were clearly intended “to evaluate this new system before conducting a test at full range in the future, potentially disguised as a space launch”, Kirby said.
Prior to its ICBM tests in 2017, the North had carried out a series of powerful rocket launches that it insisted were part of a wider civilian space programme.
Those launches were made from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station on the northwest coast, and North Korea’s official KCNA news agency reported today that leader Kim Jong-un visited the facility and ordered that it be expanded and modernised -– a move that will only fuel speculation of an imminent, disguised ICBM test.
North Korea is already under biting international sanctions over its missile and nuclear weapons programme.
But a senior US official said that the latest tests were a “serious escalation” and the Treasury would announce fresh measures today to help prevent Pyongyang accessing “foreign items and technology” to advance that programme.
Such measures underline that the North’s “unlawful and destabilising activities have consequences” and that diplomatic negotiations are the only viable path forward for Pyongyang, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Kirby said Washington “remains committed to a diplomatic approach” but "will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the US and our allies."
In Tokyo, the Defence Ministry said it had reached the same conclusion as Washington, adding that the February launch had an altitude of up to 600km and travelled about 300km, while the March launch had an altitude of up to 550km and also travelled about 300km.
It called the tests a “threat to peace and security... that can never be tolerated”. – AFP, March 11, 2022