North Korea is sending a strong signal by launching an intercontinental missile into Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

North Korea launched today ballistic missile intercontinental (ICBM) that fell into the waters of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Japan, which sends a strong signal on the eve of Seoul and Washington to start joint military exercises.

Liberation occurs after Pyongyangwhich in 2022 carried out a record number of missile launches, has not conducted a single weapon test for more than a month and a half, a period without North Korean activity in the area, which has not been observed on the peninsula for a long time.

His last test dated January 1, when just three hours before the new year, he fired a short-range projectile from a large multiple launch rocket system.

But the day before North Korea launched the first scathing post since the aforementioned essay, threatening an “unprecedented” response to the annual springtime military maneuvers called the “Freedom Shield” that the South and the US have begun finalizing by March, which they will also hold a theoretical exercise next week simulating a regime nuclear attack.

And today, the regime appears to have sent a dire warning by launching an intercontinental ballistic missile that has demonstrated the ability to reach the entire United States.

A new type of rocket?

Looking forward to more information about projectilewhose exact typology Pyongyang may reveal tomorrow, analysts and governments are now trying to determine whether what was launched is a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile, like the one the regime first displayed ten days ago during its army’s 75th anniversary celebration.

This parade appears to showcase a new solid-propellant ICBM, a more efficient type of missile (solid fuel makes loading and storage safer, and easier to deploy projectiles) that North Korea began developing following the approval of a weapons upgrade plan in 2021.

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), today’s launch was made around 17:22 (8:22 GMT) from the Sunan area, where Pyongyang International Airport is located and from where the regime launched the Hwasong-17, its most a potentially long-range intercontinental ballistic missile in its arsenal.

“He ballistic missile The North Korean aircraft was launched at a very high angle and crashed into the East Sea (the name given to the Sea of ​​Japan in two Koreas) after flying about 900 kilometers,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. says in the statement.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the launch and pointed out that the missile, which according to the Japanese Defense Ministry reached an altitude of about 5,700 kilometers, fell within the Japanese Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at a distance of about 200 kilometers. west of Oshima Island, located southwest of the northern island of Hokkaido.

caught on television

The camera of the Japanese public broadcaster NHK, located in the nearby city of Hakodate, apparently captured fragments of a flaming projectile illuminating the night sky during the re-entry phase.

It is estimated that the missile hit the water around 18:27 local time (9:27 GMT), so it must have been flying for more than an hour, and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada assured that it could fly about 14,000 kilometers if he was launched on a normal trajectory, this is enough to reach any region of the planet, with the exception of South America.

For its part, the South Korean National Security Council (NSC) urgently convened and “strongly” condemned the North Korean test, which it considered a “serious violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a serious provocation that heightens tensions on the peninsula.” Korea and in the region.”

Last year, Pyongyang launched a record number of missile launches, about fifty, in many cases in response to joint maneuvers by Seoul and Washington and the placement of strategic Pentagon assets on the peninsula.

Satellite photographs also show that the Pungeri nuclear test center (northeast of the country) has been completely rehabilitated in almost a year and is ready to accept a new atomic test. (EFE)