Washington condemned North Korea's test Thursday of an intercontinental ballistic missile off its eastern coast, and South Korea announced a response with several missile tests to send a message to its North neighbor that it was fully prepared.
"This launch represents a flagrant violation of several United Nations Security Council resolutions, unnecessarily increases tension and threatens to destabilize the security situation in the region," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
Psaki added that the door was not closed in the face of diplomacy, but that North Korea should immediately stop its destabilizing actions, she said.
On the other hand, this test prompted South Korea to launch a barrage of missiles "from land, sea and air," and its Joint Chiefs of Staff said - in a statement - that the experience confirms that its army has "the readiness and ability" to launch a precise strike on missile launch sites, command and support facilities and other targets. In North Korea if necessary.
Earlier, South Korean President Moon Jae-in confirmed that the projectile detected at noon on Thursday was an intercontinental ballistic missile, accusing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of violating the moratorium on intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Moon, who has made engagement with North Korea a key goal of his administration and is due to leave office next May, added that the launch also poses a serious threat to the Korean peninsula, the region and the international community, and a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
In turn, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that the missile fell off the western coast of Hokkaido, near Japanese territorial waters, considering this test an "unacceptable act of violence."
The Japanese authorities said that what happened appeared to be the launch of a "new type" of ICBMs, which flew in the air for about 71 minutes, at an altitude of about 6,000 km and a range of 1,100 km from its launch site.
And Thursday's test will be the eleventh missile test - at least - that North Korea has conducted this year, in an unprecedented frequency, which comes about a week after the South Korean army announced that the North's neighbor fired an "unspecified projectile", but the operation failed. immediately.
Analysts pointed out that the test was for the so-called "monster missile" or "Hwasong-17", a new system of ICBMs that had not been launched before.
North Korea has frozen intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear tests since 2017, but has described the weapons as necessary to defend itself and said negotiations with the United States are not serious as long as Washington and its allies continue "hostile policies" such as sanctions and military exercises.