The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that one long-range ballistic missile that North Korea fired into the East Sea today (24th) is presumed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile or an ICBM.



Regarding the ballistic missile that North Korea fired from the Pyongyang Sunan Airfield at 2:34 pm today, a JCS official explained, "(The highest) was detected at an altitude of over 6,200 km and a distance of about 1,80 km."



The missile fired at an elevated angle is believed to be a new ICBM 'Hwasong-17'.



The Japanese government also previously defined the missile as a new ICBM (Hwasong-17).



It also explained that it flew 1,100 km at a maximum altitude of 6,000 km and landed in the East Sea 150 km west of Toshima Peninsula, Hokkaido, the northernmost point of Japan.



North Korea previously fired ballistic missiles believed to be ICBMs twice, on the 27th of last month and on the 5th of this month, and on the 16th, the same type of missile was launched.



In the previous three launches, the trajectory of a semi-medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) was launched with a trajectory shorter than that of an ICBM, but this is the first time in four years and four months since November 2017 that an ICBM was launched with the maximum performance.



As a result, the moratorium declaration in April 2018 that North Korea would voluntarily dismantle its nuclear test site and suspend nuclear tests and ICBM test launches was also broken after four years.



At an emergency meeting of the National Security Council (NSC), which President Moon Jae-in personally presided over on the same day, President Moon Jae-in defined the moratorium as “abolition of the moratorium, which was promised by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the international community.” .



In particular, it is expected that North Korea will take a hardline response by resuming ICBM provocations regardless of the fact that the ROK and the US have issued a 'pre-warning' by disclosing the details of the analysis at the time of the two previous ICBM performance test launches.



(Photo = Yonhap News)