US, Japan condemn North Korea's ICBM launch; call it 'clear violation of UNSC resolutions'

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday condemned North Korea's latest missile test in a telephone conversation with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi. North Korea tested a banned intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Hwasong-17 for the first time since 2017 that flew for over an hour across 1,100 km (684 miles) stretch and plunged into Japan's exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan about 150 km west of the Oshima Peninsula northernmost island of Hokkaido, military of South Korea and Japan said in a statement. 

Violation of UN Security Council resolutions

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman also spoke with Republic of Korea (ROK) First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong Kun and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Mori Takeo regarding the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea's (DPRK) intercontinental ballistic missile launch. The firing was on a trajectory that limited its distance of travel but can be aimed at any country inter-continently. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “spoke today with Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and they jointly condemned the DPRK’s March 24 Intercontinental ballistic missile launch as a clear violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” according to the state department’s release. 

DPRK’s latest provocation, which follows two ICBM tests in 2022, further demonstrates the threat the DPRK’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs pose to the DPRK’s neighbours and the broader international community, Blinken told Yoshimasa. Secretary of State Blinken also reaffirmed the US-Japan Alliance is the cornerstone of peace, security, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond, and committed to trilateral cooperation with Japan and the Republic of Korea towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. He reiterated that the United States’ commitment to the defense of Japan and the Republic of Korea remains ironclad.

A woman walks along a sidewalk past a TV displaying a news program on North Korea's missile launch in Tokyo. North Korea has fired a suspected long-range missile toward the sea in what would be its first such test since 2017. Credit: AP

People watch a TV showing a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. Credit: AP

Kim Jong Un 'personally oversaw' ICBM test-firing; gave written orders

The ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] is a land-based nuclear-armed ballistic missile with a range of more than 3,500 miles (5,600 km). DPRK test-fired the ballistic missile to demonstrate its “retaliatory and precision strike” capabilities and nuclear force and deterrence against the US “imperialists," the state media KCNA reported. The ICBM Hwasong-17 was first unveiled in 2020 at a Workers' Party of Korea military parade.

North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, bottom, attends at a meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. Credit: AP

North Korea's Kim Jong Un “personally oversaw” the test-firing of the country's ‘new type’ of missile under the "direct guidance” across the tarmac in front of a large missile carried on an 11-axle transporter. It was fired from Pyongyang International Airport and was confirmed to have travelled up to a maximum altitude of 6,248.5 kilometers and a distance of 1,090 km on its 68-minute flight. 

North Korea has been "fully ready for a long-standing confrontation with the US imperialists," reported KCNA. Test firing which was given "a written order" was "completed as a core strike means and a reliable nuclear war deterrence means" of North Korea. The launch comes as the bilateral talks between Washington and Pyongyang on denuclearization and sanctions relief have been stalled for two years, and the authoritarian leader Kim rejected Washington’s repeated offers on reviving the negotiations under the Biden administration. 

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. North Korea has fired possibly its biggest-yet intercontinental ballistic missile toward the sea, raising the ante in a pressure campaign aimed at forcing the US and other rivals to accept it as a nuclear power and remove crippling sanctions. Credit: AP

"The missile, launched at Pyongyang International Airport, travelled up to a maximum altitude of 6,248.5 km and flew a distance of 1,090 km for 4,052s before accurately hitting the pre-set area in open waters" in the Sea of Japan, KCNA said.

The launch of the Hwasong-17 threatens regional security and comes at a strategic time when the United States and its allies have been occupied with Russia's fierce invasion of Ukraine. Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, published photos of the Hwasong-17 carried on a launch vehicle with 22 wheels. The North Korean state-affiliated media stated that the test-fire of the missile was carried out "in a vertical launch mode in consideration of the security of neighbouring countries".