(5th LD) N. Korea's ICBM launch seems to have ended in failure: source

All News 11:48 November 03, 2022

(ATTN: UPDATES lead paras with details; CHANGES headline)
By Kim Soo-yeon and Chae Yun-hwan

SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and two short-range ones toward the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea's military said.

The ICBM was launched from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at around 7:40 a.m. and flew about 760 kilometers at an apogee of around 1,920 km at a top speed of Mach 15, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Following the second stage separation, however, the missile seems to have failed in normal flight, a defense source said later on background.

It marked the North's seventh firing of an ICBM this year and the first since late May.

The JCS also said it detected the firing of two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) from Kaechon in South Pyongan Province from around 8:39 a.m.

They traveled some 330 km at a maximum altitude of around 70 km at a top speed of Mach 5, it said.

This undated file photo, released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, shows a launch of a North Korean ballistic missile. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

"Our military has beefed up surveillance and vigilance, while maintaining the readiness posture in close cooperation with the U.S.," the JCS said in a statement.

The North's provocations came a day after it shot more than two dozen missiles, the biggest-ever barrage in a single day. One of them flew southward past the de facto maritime inter-Korean border for the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The North is seen as demonstrating its firepower in protest against this week's combined air drills of South Korea and the United States, involving more than 240 aircraft, amid growing speculation that Pyongyang may conduct a nuclear test soon.

Pyongyang has long denounced joint military drills between Seoul and Washington as a rehearsal for invasion. The allies stress the exercises are defensive in nature.

Pak Jong-chon, secretary of the Central Committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party, warned Wednesday that Seoul and Washington will "pay the most horrible price in history" if they decide to attack the North.

North Korea's foreign ministry earlier warned of "more powerful follow-up measures" against what it called Washington's "ceaseless and reckless" military provocations.