North Korea launches missile
On Friday (local time) North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), according to the South Korean military, the second launch in two days, and it would have landed in waters of the Japanese exclusive economic zone.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that it had “detected a suspected long-range ballistic missile at around 10:15 a.m. (6:15 p.m. Thursday Mexico time) fired from the Sunan area in Pyongyang” into the Sea of Japan.
North Korea fires multiple missiles, one hits near South Korea
The missile traveled a distance of about 1,000 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 6,100 kilometers and a speed of Mach 22, according to the South Korean military, which called the launch “a threat to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.”
In statements to the press in Bangkok, where he is participating in a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, assured that the missile would have fallen in the waters of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of his country, near the northern region of Hokkaido.
According to the Japanese Defense Minister, Yasukazu Hamada, the projectile had the capacity to reach US territory.
“Based on calculations that consider the trajectory, the ballistic missile this time could have had a range of 15,000 km, depending on the weight of the warhead, and if so, it could reach the United States,” Hamada said.